Khamenei calls US, Israel ‘sworn enemies’ of Muslim unity
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Sunday called the United States and Israel the “sworn enemies” of Muslim unity, accusing both countries of hostility toward the broader Muslim world.
“The criminal rulers of the U.S. and the illegitimate Zionist regime are the sworn enemies of this unity and friendship,” Khamenei said in a message marking Islamic Unity Week. He added that even rulers of Muslim countries considered allies of Washington and Jerusalem were not exempt from what he described as their hostility.
Khamenei also argued that greater Muslim unity would have strengthened the Palestinians, asking whether they would have been left “so defenseless” if Muslims had acted as “a single, united hand.”
Meanwhile, the United States has gained the upper hand in the battle for the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials told Axios on Friday, as the White House separately said in a press release that American forces had reopened international shipping lanes and cut off Iranian oil exports.
“That sucker is open. The Iranian response is very mild. They don’t want us to go back at them. That’s the whole ball game. The rest doesn’t matter,” President Donald Trump told Axios reporter Barak Ravid, who wrote that the U.S. officials said “they’ve turned the tide in the strait and believe it could be a watershed moment in the war that brings not only gradual relief to the world economy, but also a better deal with Iran.”
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video posted overnight Thursday that “we have successfully cleared sea mines in the strait’s international shipping lanes that were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Internationally recognized transit routes in the strait are free of Iranian sea mines thanks to the incredible work of the U.S. military.”
Update from CENTCOM Commander: pic.twitter.com/osPbltjJ1C
The White House also said on Friday that Iranian mines had been cleared from international shipping lanes and that 75 vessels attempting to break the blockade had been turned back since the naval blockade resumed on July 14. It said Iran had exported no oil since the blockade resumed.
“U.S. Central Command confirms what Democrats and the Fake News have spent months denying: the United States—not the Islamic Republic of Iran—controls the Strait of Hormuz,” the White House said. “American forces are keeping energy moving to the world while denying Tehran the revenue it needs to threaten global commerce.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, said on Saturday that Tehran would not compromise on national security and warned that Iranian forces would “fight fire with fire,” reiterating that U.S. bases in the region could be targeted in response to attacks on the Islamic Republic, according to state propaganda outlet Press TV.
The escalation in rhetoric comes as Washington moves to intensify pressure on Tehran’s economy and the foreign governments and companies that sustain its trade. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week announced “Operation Economic Outcast,” an expanded sanctions campaign aimed at cutting off what he called Iran’s remaining financial lifelines.
“For decades, this regime has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable,” Bessent told reporters on Aug. 24. “That era is over.”
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