New Delhi, March 4 -- Middle eastern strongmen seldom enjoy tidy exits. Libya's dictator, Muammar Qaddafi, died in a ditch outside Sirte. In Iraq Saddam Hussein was hauled from a hole and hanged after a perfunctory trial. Yahya Sinwar, the architect of Hamas's attacks on Israel on October 7th 2023, hurled a stick at a combat drone. Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader for 37 years, appears to have chosen a different end: martyrdom.

He carefully prepared for succession. He lined up replacements for officials he expected Israel and America to assassinate. He named a wartime commander, Ali Larijani, to run affairs in his absence. And he readied his followers for what was to come. In his final address on February 16th he invoked the defining ...