Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei sent a high-profile message carrying sharp regional and internal messages directed at Israel and Western powers, coinciding with the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war (Sacred Defense Week) and the second anniversary of the assassination of former Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, which falls in September 2024.
This message came, according to a report by journalist Eli Leon in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, citing the Iranian Mehr Agency, in light of escalating tension between Tehran on the one hand, and Israel and the West on the other, as Khamenei allocated a prominent space to talk about Lebanon, Hezbollah, and its leadership.
In his response to the West’s attempts to weaken Tehran, Khamenei likened the Islamic regime to the phoenix, saying that his country had emerged from crises and pressures, especially the “two recent imposed wars,” stronger and more solid, adding: “The phoenix has grown to the point that the shadow of its flight is also falling on enemy territory.” He also directed sarcastic statements to the United States and its allies, saying that the aggressor forces are today seeking refuge and begging to stop the fighting.
Regarding the Lebanese issue, Khamenei praised Hassan Nasrallah at length, saying that “no man has achieved his greatness throughout the history of the Levant,” and at the same time praised the current Secretary-General of the party, Naim Qassem, for his leadership of “the solid ranks of Hezbollah.” He criticized the moderate forces in the region by saying that these days in Lebanon represent “days of humiliation for those who pin their hopes on the false promises of the major powers in confronting the Zionist enemy.”
On the military and strategic level, Khamenei reviewed Iran’s global position, citing its presence in the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea, and declaring: “Today there are those who see us as the fourth power in the world, but according to divine calculations, we are considered the first power in the world.” He also indicated the readiness of civil mobilization, stressing that more than 30 million Iranians are ready to sacrifice their lives, and that a call to volunteer resulted in the registration of more than half a million people in just 100 minutes, pointing out the advance of women over men in some battlefields of struggle.
Khamenei concluded his message by recalling the legacy of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, and former guide Ali Khamenei, saying: “We feel very much the absence of the great Khomeini and the martyr Ali Khamenei, but thanks to the legacy they left, the coming days will be more glorious,” and he concluded with a clear challenge that the enemy “can only dream of returning to the days of the past, but they will never return.”
