Leadership Quote by Oriana Fallaci

Fallaci’s line is a backhanded compliment sharpened into a scalpel: she elevates Khomeini precisely to make him more alarming. Calling other strongmen “puppets” isn’t just insult; it frames much of the Islamic world’s leadership, in her eyes, as performative power - regimes propped up by patrons, factions, and stage-managed myth. Khomeini, she insists, was different: not merely an autocrat with a uniform, but an authority with metaphysical backing. The comparison to “a sort of Pope” is the tell. It imports a Western shorthand for religious legitimacy that can outlast guns and oil money, a power that doesn’t need to bargain with modern institutions because it can claim to stand above them.

The “sort of king” tag does a second job. It suggests sovereignty that feels organic, almost medieval: rule as destiny rather than administration. Fallaci’s journalism often sought the nerve center of charisma, and here she’s mapping how the Iranian Revolution fused clerical sanctity with monarchical command - a hybrid that made resistance harder because opposition wasn’t only political; it could be cast as sacrilege.

Context matters: Fallaci interviewed Khomeini in 1979 and came away both fascinated and furious, later turning her encounters into a broader critique of political Islam. The subtext is her warning to Western readers: stop misreading Khomeini as another disposable dictator. He’s “a real leader” because he can mobilize belief, not just fear - and belief is the one resource that doesn’t run out when the palace falls.