Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei declared on X that its ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel is comparable to jihad, according to a counterterrorism analyst.
“Among the most valuable achievements of the Third Sacred Defense [against the American and Zionist invasion] is the emergence of Iran at the level of a major, influential power,” Khamenei wrote.
The analyst, Dr. Omar Mohammed, with George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told Fox News that Khamenei’s use of “sacred defense” is another term for jihad.
“Strip the euphemism away, and what Khamenei is invoking here is jihad — sacred religious war,” Mohammed said, adding that “‘Sacred Defense’ is the Islamic Republic’s preferred term for jihad against an aggressor; it carries the full weight of religious obligation in Shia jurisprudence,” he added.
He explained, “By framing the war with America and Israel this way, Khamenei is not describing a geopolitical conflict. He is declaring a holy war and casting it as a religious duty.”
Meanwhile, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf suggested that the U.S. is looking to “start a new war,” The Times of Israel reports.
“The enemy’s movements, both overt and clandestine, show that despite economic and political pressure, it has not abandoned its military objectives and is seeking to start a new war,” Ghalibaf said.
President Trump also noted during the 2026 U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement ceremony in Connecticut that “everything’s gone” in Iran.
“Everything’s gone,” he said. “Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Just about everything. The only question is, do we go and finish it up or are they going to be signing a document? Let’s see what happens.”
Earlier this year, Khamenei vowed to “put an end to the United States’ mischief.” He declared that such action would be a “regional war.”
