The tactic: always look in control
“Khomeini can transmit a great deal of power and firmness, even when he himself does not believe it,” Beshen states. “When you see him speaking, he usually does not stand behind a curtain, which supposedly indicates that he is not hiding anything from his people, but this is a deliberate tactic. Moreover, it seems that he always sits when he speaks, and this is not necessarily because of his advanced age. For Khamenei, it is important to produce A sense of stability and this is one of the ways to achieve it.”
Also, she notes the fact that the Iranian leader remains stable even in his body movements. “It’s amazing to me, because when he speaks you can see that he hardly moves, except for his left hand which is raised firmly, the body is very stable, almost robotic. This happens not only when he threatens Israel, but also when he talks about the strength of Iran, and this indicates So he controls his emotions, which by the way helps him ‘sell’ to his people any story he wants, such as telling them that the drone attack was successful and that the Iranians managed to hit strategic targets”
“There are many motifs of intimidation here”
“On the one hand, the way he speaks definitely indicates aggression as mentioned, but I think he can transmit any message he wants, even if nothing that comes out of his mouth is credible. The monotonous and calm way in which he speaks and the static wave of his hand allow him to turn the audience around. This is true Both for his audience and for the Israeli audience watching him. There are many motifs of intimidation through words and his body language also serves him. Even before the attack, when he said that Israel would pay a heavy price for killing senior officials in Syria, he spoke very calmly, and was very stable. In his sitting. This indicates great control – he doesn’t do anything that he didn’t plan.”
Bashan provides another interesting insight into Khamenei: “I noticed that he always holds a note when he speaks. This is surprising because it is a tool that usually serves people who are a little more insecure, and it does not go well with his ‘charismatic’ and confident personality. Perhaps this indicates that he is not really in control as he tries to portray himself. By the way, usually what characterizes violent people is the use of their right hand while speaking, but he always uses his left hand. When I tried to find out how this could be, I found out that his right side of the body was injured due to an assassination attempt many years ago, so he is physically unable to use that hand “.
If you are wondering about Khamenei’s sanity, Bashan claims that he is not a psychopath. “Usually psychopaths have difficulty expressing emotions while talking about difficult things, and he has a range of emotions in his face. You can see that he is very extreme in his political and religious expressions, but there are no personality elements that indicate a mental illness. However, sometimes when he speaks, he adds a kind of slight smile to his firm movements, and when anger and a smile come together – it’s already a matter that indicates a certain madness.”