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Iran\u2019s Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei delivered an unexpected proclamation of Iranian victory in the war with the US on Israel, stating that “the malicious enemy has been defeated in confrontation with Iran\u2019s armed forces.”<\/p>\n
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In a statement read out on Thursday during the ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini\u2019s death, Khamenei said, \u201cI tell the dear Iranian nation that the malicious enemy … is now experiencing a profound and meaningful humiliation, both on the military battlefield and in the public arena and it is now focused on trickery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khamenei\u2019s unexpected statement may signal an approaching peace deal, for which he appears to be preparing the Iranian nation, while also calling for its unity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe system of domination, which created a garrison called Israel nearly 80 years ago, does not accept the existence of a strong and independent Iran, endowed with various advantages, on the eastern frontier of the false and fictitious geography of \u2018Greater Israel\u2019 \u2014 east of the Euphrates,” The ayatollah’s statement warned.<\/p>\n
Khamenei has not appeared in public since the war began. US media reported, citing multiple Iranian officials, that he sustained serious injuries in the strikes, underwent multiple surgeries and has difficulty speaking due to severe burns. <\/p>\n
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was “likely disfigured.” Iran has not confirmed the reports. He has communicated only through written statements since taking office.<\/p>\n
In his written statement on Wednesday, Khamenei said that “the enemy … focused its efforts in a hybrid war on two areas: the resilience of the people and creating errors in the calculations of the country’s officials.\u201c <\/p>\n
“After Iran was able to repel the enemy, who was defeated on the battlefield, it now seeks to undermine the resilience of the Iranian people and sow discord,\u201d the younger Khamenei warned the Iranian people. <\/p>\n
“Everyone must neutralise the enemy\u2019s sinister plans through steadfastness, vigilance, preserving unity and cohesion, maintaining mutual trust, and refraining from echoing the enemy\u2019s narrative,” he said.<\/p>\n
Khamenei has also called on Iranian officials to \u201csupport these principles\u201d, warning them that \u201cany action that leads to public pessimism or discouragement among the people should be regarded as a form of assistance to the enemy \u2014 assistance against this country and its people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump would ‘like to meet’ Khamenei<\/p>\n
In a series of surprising revelations, Trump said in an interview on Tuesday that the new ayatollah was involved in negotiations with the US and the two were “getting along quite well.”<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t had the privilege of meeting him,” the US president told the New York Post. “If you believe the stories, he\u2019s missing a lot of different parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s involved, absolutely. Yeah, I think they have a lot of respect for him,\u201d Trump said on the Pod Force One podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say he is giving approval, because that\u2019s the way it has been for a long, long time. His father and then him, I guess it\u2019s a succession. But we seem to be getting along quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also said he was keen to meet the younger Khamenei, pending the result of the ongoing talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I\u2019d like to meet him. I\u2019d love to meet everybody. I would like to meet him and we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously, Trump dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a “lightweight” and an “unacceptable” choice to lead the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
Khamenei was selected as the Islamic Republic’s third supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts \u2014 the panel of Shia clerics responsible under Iranian law for appointing the position \u2014 roughly 10 days after his father’s death.<\/p>\n
After the announcement, Trump said he was “not happy” and “disappointed,” adding, “I’m not going through this to end up with another Khamenei.”<\/p>\n
Sabre-rattling over Hezbollah<\/p>\n
Khamenei\u2019s statement is part of a growing trend in recent days, in which Tehran has continued to amplify its rhetoric towards a wider regional role to project strength despite the war’s impact, further engaging in discussions on the war in Lebanon in support of its militant proxy Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank (ISW) has estimated that \u201cIran and Hezbollah are continuing to try to transform negotiations about ending the war over the Strait of Hormuz into negotiations about ending the war in Lebanon.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Iranian regime likely also calculates that it can preserve its leverage on other issues in negotiations with the United States, such as its nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz, by deflecting talks to the war in Lebanon,\u201d the ISW analysis said.<\/p>\n
The IRGC will \u201clikely calculate that the status quo will help them advance several other objectives, such as solidifying Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz and maintaining the Iranian nuclear program,” according to the ISW.<\/p>\n
In an interview with a Lebanese television station on Wednesday, Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that \u201cif Israel attacks Beirut, the result will be the return to war,\u201d and that \u201ceither the war stops in both Iran and Lebanon, or it doesn’t stop neither in Iran nor in Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur armed forces are ready to launch devastating strikes against the occupied territories at any moment,\u201d Araghchi said. <\/p>\n
Former head of Israel\u2019s military intelligence research department and Atlantic Council non-resident fellow Danny Citrinowicz warned that \u201cwe are entering a new era in which Tehran feels stronger, more secure, and increasingly confident in the credibility of its deterrence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIranian leaders now appear to believe that their willingness to absorb military pressure and survive it, has enhanced rather than weakened their strategic position,” Citrinowicz said in a post on X. <\/p>\n
“The result is a more assertive Iran, a more dangerous Middle East, and a growing risk that future crises will escalate faster and further than anyone anticipated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei delivered an unexpected proclamation of Iranian victory in the war with the US on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54,85,87,117780,46,159370,43],"class_list":["post-476572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-donald-trump","tag-il","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-israel","tag-mojtaba-khamenei","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}