Iran’s Khamenei Calls for Gulf Unity, Confront ‘Real Enemy’ U.S., Israel

Iranian “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei called on Gulf states to unite against the United States and Israel as their “real enemy” in a written message Sunday, an overture to neighbors Tehran has spent months attacking and threatening as the Islamic Republic faces mounting military and economic pressure.

“My repeated, emphatic recommendation to the rulers of Islamic countries, particularly those in the West Asia region and along the Persian Gulf, is that you must know who your true enemy is, understand their plots, and confront them,” Khamenei said in the message marking the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad.

Khamenei identified that enemy as the United States and Israel, accusing both countries of seeking to divide the Muslim world.

“The criminal rulers of the US and the illegitimate Zionist regime are the sworn enemies of this unity and friendship,” he said. “They are not just the enemies of the Islamic Republic, the Iranian nation, and the vast front of Islamic Resistance. Rather, they hold enmity toward the entire Islamic Ummah, including the nations in West Asia and North Africa.”

Khamenei went on to argue that even rulers in the region allied with Washington were not exempt from that hostility, questioning whether outside powers would threaten Gulf countries if Muslim nations stood together.

“If the nations and governments, which are on the shores of the Persian Gulf, had firmly established their unity under the banner of Islam, would corrupt, unprincipled scoundrels have dared to covet their lands and wealth from thousands of kilometers away?” he asked.

The appeal comes after months in which Iran has attacked its Gulf neighbors and U.S. targets across the region while seeking to choke commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, inflicting economic damage on several of the same countries Khamenei is now urging to unite with Tehran.

Iranian officials have also repeatedly threatened neighboring governments against cooperating with President Donald Trump’s escalating economic campaign against Tehran.

Earlier this month, former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezaei warned countries in the region that Tehran would consider them enemies if they joined Washington’s economic campaign and would strike their interests if they cooperated with the United States.

“We tell all the countries around us not to join the United States in its economic war, otherwise we will consider them enemies,” Rezaei said. Iranian officials subsequently warned that participation in the U.S. economic offensive could amount to an “act of war.”

The confrontation has also cost Tehran economic ties with its neighbors. The United Arab Emirates, historically one of Iran’s most important commercial links to the outside world, suspended all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran earlier this month after accusing Tehran of renewed missile fire toward the country. Iran denied launching the missiles.

The move followed repeated attacks on vessels belonging to UAE state-owned energy giant ADNOC amid Iran’s campaign to control commercial traffic through Hormuz.

Khamenei’s appeal comes as the Trump administration intensifies Operation Economic Outcast, its campaign to sever Iran’s remaining commercial and financial lifelines and compound the pressure imposed by the U.S. naval blockade.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged Friday that sanctions were taking a toll, pushing back on claims inside Iran that they were having no effect.

“Some say sanctions have no effect at all; to those people, I really don’t know what to say,” Pezeshkian said, adding that Iranian imports and exports have fallen roughly 25 to 35 percent in recent months.

Iran has simultaneously stepped up diplomatic outreach to its neighbors, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi holding talks in recent days with officials from Oman, Pakistan and Qatar. Iranian officials said over the weekend that Tehran had reached an understanding with Oman over passage arrangements through Hormuz, but insisted it would not be implemented until Washington fulfills what Iran considers its commitments under an earlier memorandum of understanding.

Khamenei used Sunday’s message to call for mutual defense alongside greater political unity among Muslim countries, declaring that “the second lesson is to defend one another against disbelief” and urging greater cooperation in “wealth, security, science, and progress.”

The appeal was the latest major message attributed to a supreme leader who has remained out of public view since taking power nearly six months ago.

Khamenei has not made a public appearance since reportedly being seriously wounded in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, which killed his father and predecessor, longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since succeeding his father, Khamenei has communicated publicly through written statements attributed to him by Iranian state media, without delivering a public speech or authenticated audio address.

He was notably absent from his father’s elaborate funeral ceremonies in July, where three of his brothers appeared publicly, while questions over his health and ability to exercise control over the government have persisted for months.

Pezeshkian acknowledged earlier this month that communicating with Khamenei was “very difficult,” while reports have indicated that Iranian officials seeking approval for negotiations have struggled to gain access to him.

Trump said last week that he believes Khamenei remains alive but was seriously injured in the February strikes.

“I don’t think he’s dead,” Trump said in an interview with Glenn Beck. “He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously wounded, but I don’t think he’s dead.”

Sunday’s statement continued the unusual pattern of consequential messages being issued in Khamenei’s name without a public appearance or authenticated recording from the Iranian leader. In July, a written statement attributed to Khamenei vowed to avenge his father’s death, warning those responsible that they would carry “their dream of a peaceful death in bed to the grave.”