The Office of the Supreme Leadership Authority (Persian: دفتر مقام معظم رهبری, Daftar-e Magham-e Moazzam-e Rahbari), also known in shortform as the House of the Leadership (Persian: بیت رهبری, Beit-e Rahbari), was the official residence, bureaucratic office and principal workplace of Ali Khamenei as supreme leader of Iran from 1989 to 2026, when the compound was destroyed as Khamenei was assassinated in a series of airstrikes.
Its structure was a mixture of traditional Beit (religious office of Marja') and bureaucracy. The institution was located in central Tehran and was run by Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani. In 2026, it was estimated that 4,000 people were working at its headquarters and another 40,000 affiliated with the office throughout the Iranian government.
Location
The location formerly housed the imperial Ekhtesassi Palace.
The Office of the Supreme Leader was built on the grounds of the former Ekhtesassi Palace, which served as Ali Khamenei's residence and office during his tenure as President of the Islamic Republic from 1981 to 1989. The palace was designed in 1938 by two Hungarian Jewish architects from Mandatory Palestine, Laszlo Fischer and Ferenc Bodanzky, who also designed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in the National Garden. Reza Shah personally selected the two to design the residence adjacent to his Marble Palace as a gift to the then-Crown Prince. Additional palaces were constructed in its vicinity for his siblings Shams (north, directly above), Ashraf (south, across the street) and Abdol Reza (east, across the street). It served as Mohammad Reza Shah's primary residence from 1938 until 1969, when the Imperial Court moved to the Niavaran Complex in northern Tehran.
Overview
The Office of the Supreme Leader was used by the supreme leader to communicate and administer orders to various other military, cultural, economic, and political organizations. A number of political, military, and religious advisors worked under this office. These advisors have an influential role in decisions made throughout country.
According to Ali Motahari, a former member of parliament from Tehran, the influence of the Office of the Supreme Leader in the country's affairs was so great that "the parliament is effectively a branch of the Office of the Supreme Leader".
History
Traditionally in Shia Islam, an ayatollah has an office (bayt), often run by his son, to communicate and advise his followers on religious issues and to organize matters such as the collecting and distributing of charity. Ruhollah Khomeini's bayt had several dozen employees, operating largely traditionally. Under Ali Khamenei, the office grew to have thousands of employees, with offices devoted to making sure government ministries followed the leader's wishes, was known for being "secretive", and for consolidating power through security services — a way some thought of substituting for what Khamenei lacked in religious credentials. Khamenei had not achieved the rank of ayatollah at the time of his installation as supreme leader, and neither his son Mojtaba Khamenei, who became the third supreme leader after his father was assassinated.
↑Mohammad Hamid Ansari, ed. (2005). Iran today: twenty-five years after the Islamic revolution. ORF studies of contemporary Muslim societies. Vol.3. Rupa & Co. pp.213, 217.
↑Brumberg, Daniel; Farhi, Farideh (2016). "Role of The Office of Supreme Leader". Power and Change in Iran: Politics of Contention and Conciliation. Indiana Series in Middle East Studies. Indiana University Press. pp.150–151. ISBN978-0253020796.
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