Please follow us on Truth Social, X, YouTube, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, GETTR, Gab, Instagram
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first major written message to the leaders of Gulf Arab countries on Sunday, saying Muslim rulers must identify their “real enemy,” understand its intentions and join forces to confront it, according to Reuters.
The message by Iran’s new Supreme Leader was published on his official Telegram account on Sunday, during the Islamic Unity Week which is celebrated across the Muslim world every year on the occasion of the birthday of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. In his message, Khamenei called for unity of all Muslim peoples across the world, stressing that they should be prepared to defend each other against aggression.
“Rogues without identity” would not even dream of attempting to usurp the lands and possessions of the Gulf rulers were Muslim peoples and governments to be united under the flag of Islam, wrote Khamenei, who has been unable to make a public appearance since he was wounded in the February airstrikes which launched the U.S.-Iran war. His comments seemed aimed at driving a wedge between the Gulf rulers and their U.S. security benefactors.
“Identify your real enemy, find out his intentions and oppose him,” Khamenei wrote.
As Iran teeters on the brink of war, the diplomatic outreach to the Gulf is highly sensitive given that Tehran enjoys formal relations with the Arab states of the Gulf even as their soil is targeted by the US waging war against Iran. The Iranian attacks on the US military in the region pose a unique threat to the rule of the Gulf’s monarchs.
Since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, the governments of the Gulf Arab monarchies have perceived Iran’s revolutionary ideology and regional influence operations as existential threats to their political systems. However, the six months of war, economic pain caused by closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the great uncertainty surrounding the US’s long-term commitment to the region have lately created a new situation, and for the first time, it is being studied and discussed in the back rooms of the foreign ministries of the Gulf Arab countries.
The two statements by Khamenei aim at two different audiences: They are meant to harden the home front while trying to win over potential regional allies. By banning actions that are ‘harmful to social cohesion’ and prohibiting officials from spreading ‘discouraging statements’ that would undermine ‘morale’, he can shore up domestic support for the regime.
It remains to be seen whether any of the Gulf monarchs will reply to Khamenei’s offer. But for now the fact that Iran’s Supreme Leader has chosen to publicly promote a line of diplomatic outreach when his country is at its most imperiled, is in itself noteworthy. It suggests that the Iranians still believe they have room to maneuver, and that they intend to make full use of it.
‘NO AD’ subscription for CDM! Sign up here and support real investigative journalism and help save the republic!
