In an effort to exude power and control at a precarious time, Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei attended the Friday prayer sermon in Tehran on October 4 under heavy security restrictions and measures. Khamenei’s goal was to lift the spirits of his demoralized forces, who are increasingly quarreling among themselves.
To this end, he once again beat the war drum, calling the regime’s recent missile attack a “brilliant action,” and stated: “The brilliant work of our armed forces two or three nights ago was completely legal and legitimate. What our armed forces did was the minimum punishment for the usurping Zionist regime in response to its astonishing crimes; a bloodthirsty regime, a wolf-like regime, America’s rabid dog in the region. The Islamic Republic will carry out any duty it has in this regard with strength, firmness, and decisiveness.”
Khamenei, having heard the concerns of regime hardliners who repeatedly warn that not answering the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh led to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, addressed them to calm the situation during the ongoing war, stressing, “Pay attention! We do not delay nor rush in fulfilling this duty. We are neither hesitant nor negligent. We also do not act hastily. What is logical, what is reasonable, what is correct, and what the military and political decision-makers deem appropriate will be carried out at the right time and moment, as it was, and if necessary, in the future, it will be done again.”
In his remarks, Khamenei once again sacrificed Palestine and Lebanon, encouraging for more regional warfare to provide his regime with grounds to take advantage of at the cost of innocent civilians.
He also tried to rally Islamic countries and nations behind his nefarious goals, stating: “We must tighten the defensive belt from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon, in all Islamic countries and nations.” While making the absurd claim of the Iranian regime’s friendship with Palestine and the Arab and Islamic nations, he added, “The enemy of Iran is the same enemy of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Yemen; the enemy is one.”
These statements, in addition to justifying the regime’s criminal warmongering and expressing concerns over its consequences, indicate the regime’s insistence on continuing this ominous policy—a policy aimed at preserving the regime and blocking the uprising of the Iranian people. However, the result of this policy so far has been the destruction of Gaza, with over 42,000 deaths and the displacement of more than two million people from Gaza. On the other hand, the war in Lebanon has also flared up, resulting in the death of over 2,000 people and the displacement of one million Lebanese.
But these efforts are in vain. The supreme leader is trapped in a self-made quagmire, where the more he struggles, the deeper he sinks. He is mourning the collapse of his regime’s strategic depth in the region and, to boost the morale of the regime’s exhausted forces, is forced to beat the drums of a war that will ultimately lead to the strategic defeat of the “head of the snake.”
As the regime scrambles to hold its fronts in the region, it is losing its hold on the main front, which is the battle between the regime on one side and the people and their Resistance movement on the other. The people of Iran have made it clear that they do not stand behind the regime’s warmongering efforts and have one goal: overthrowing the regime and establishing a democratic republic.