When Khamenei Quoted Nehru's Glimpses of World History

Supreme leader of Iran, Late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reportedly killed on February 28 in a Coordinated US-Israeli air strike. The strike happened during a day meeting between Khamenei and all other military commanders and officials, targeting top Iranian leadership in Tehran. Dozens of high-ranking commanders were killed and Iran confirmed Khamenei’s death on 1 March, declaring national mourning.

After the news of his death, old social-media posts resurfaced showing Khamenei discussing literature and reading habits. Khamenei previously emphasized his interest in reading books such as Persian Poetry, Novels, Non-fiction books, religious texts, world history and political memoir.

A resurfaced post of Khamenei, gone viral online in which he recommends a book by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. In his August 6, 2013 post on X (formerly Twitter), Khamenei shares thoughts on Nehru’s book on British rule in India “Before studying ‘Glimpses of World History’ by Mr Nehru i didn’t know India before colonization had undergone so many important advances.”

In a post of September 17, 2013 on X, he writes, “Nehru, a trusted and informed person, says Indian industry wasn’t behind UK’s but Britons barred local industrial growth away from Africa and Latin America.”

Endorsing Nehru’s critique of colonial exploitation and using India as an example of suppressed civilisation, encouraging his citizens in an video to learn from history how the British regime has implicated the country.

He also shared in a post 2021, explaining how great civilisations in Africa were destroyed due to their neglect of their capabilities and the attempt of soft war colonizers waged against them. He emphasized on the points how British India destroyed the Industry of Self-reliant India.

In a post of 2016, Khamenei wrote about his read on English summary of Jane Austen’s book including Pride and Prejudice. His posts also raised his reputation as a reader, as social media users shared the posts as: “Khamenei the reader” and “Intellectual side of Iran’s leader.” He presented himself as widely read, recommending English and Russian literature. He also mentioned the works of Mikhail Sholokhov and Alexei Tolstoy, highly recommended for reading, stating Tolstoy as a powerful writer.

The resurfaced posts highlighted a “softer, thoughtful side” of him rarely seen publicly.