Iranian leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a message for Hajj on May 26, calling for unity among Muslims nations and proclaiming “down with America.”
Declaring “Allahu Akbar,” Khamenei stated that it was with that phrase that the “Muslim nation of Iran rose up 47 years ago, toppling the tyrannical, dictatorial and dependent Pahlavi regime, severing the grasping hands of the greedy and arrogant United States from the country and completely eradicating Zionist influence.”
“By putting their trust in the Lord and by utilizing their missiles and drones across land, air and sea, they performed the rami [stoning] of the Great Satan, America, and its trained beast, the Zionist regime, witnessing firsthand the fulfillment of God’s true promise of victory for those who fight on His path,” he added.
Khamenei went on to declare that the Middle East “will no longer serve as shields for US bases,” as the United States “will no longer have a safe haven for its mischief and for establishing military bases in the region but day by day, it is growing more distant from its former status.” He stated that Israel is approaching its “final stages” of its “wretched existence.”
A similar comment regarding Israel was reiterated on Khamenei’s X account.
The Hajj message went on to assert that in Iran and in other parts of the world, the phrases “Down with America” and “Down with ‘Israel’” will become the “common chants of the Islamic Ummah and the world’s oppressed, especially among the youth.”
Khamenei released his first statement as leader in March. In the message read aloud by anchors, and reported by the New York Post, Khamenei said, “I assure everyone that we will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs. The retaliation we have in mind is not limited only to the martyrdom of the great leader of the revolution [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]; rather, every member of the nation who is martyred by the enemy constitutes a separate case in the file of revenge.”
