Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a sweeping defiant address on Tuesday, declaring that American military bases across the Middle East would no longer be tolerated in the region and vowing that "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" would remain the rallying cry of the Islamic world.
The warning comes even as ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Tehran continue to limp forward.
In a series of posts on X translated from Persian, Khamenei's office stated plainly: "The hand of time does not turn back, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases. America will no longer have a safe haven for mischief and the establishment of military bases in the region."
عقربهی زمان به عقب برنمیگردد و ملّتها و سرزمینهای منطقه، دیگر سپر پایگاههای امریکایی نخواهند بود. امریکا دیگر نقطهی امنی برای شرارت و استقرار پایگاه نظامی در منطقه نخواهد داشت.
— رسانه رهبر انقلاب اسلامی (@Rahbarenghelab_) May 26, 2026
The remarks struck a maximalist tone throughout. Khamenei declared that "Death to America and Death to Israel will be the common slogan of the Islamic Ummah and the oppressed of the world, especially the youth", calling on the Muslim world to use the Hajj season, already underway, as a moment of global disavowal of the United States and Israel.
امسال مسئله برائت از مشرکان اهمیتی مضاعف دارد و عمق و گسترهی برائت از امریکا و رژیم صهیونی،فراتر از آئین برائت در موسم و میقات حج بوده و در نقاط مختلف ایران و جهان و پس از این ایام مبارک، مرگ بر امریکا و مرگ بر اسرائیل،شعار رایج امت اسلامی و مظلومان عالم خصوصاً جوانان خواهد بود.
— رسانه رهبر انقلاب اسلامی (@Rahbarenghelab_) May 26, 2026
He urged Iranian pilgrims specifically to "narrate the victory of the third imposed war to their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters", framing the conflict with the US as a triumph for the resistance.
Khamenei credited Iran's resilience after his father and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's assassination, who was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike in Tehran on February 28 this year, to divine intervention, saying that "following the heart-wrenching martyrdom of the great leader", the Iranian nation had found what he described as a "divine resurrection".
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was subsequently named Iran's third Supreme Leader after receiving a majority of votes from clerics, though he has not appeared publicly since the strikes that killed his father and reportedly left him wounded.
He called on all Islamic countries to unite toward what he described as the coming "new Islamic civilization," and asked pilgrims to pray for "the liberation of Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque" and "ultimate victory against global arrogance" — a term Iran routinely uses to refer to the United States.
اینجانب با صدق و خلوص، همهی کشورها و دولتهای اسلامی را به دوستی و تعاون به خیر و نیکی دعوت میکنم تا با همکاری یکدیگر در راه پیشرفت امّت اسلامی و حلّ مسائل دنیای اسلام قدم برداریم.
— رسانه رهبر انقلاب اسلامی (@Rahbarenghelab_) May 26, 2026
ALSO READ: Hormuz To Reopen? US-Iran Discuss Plan To Open Strait 30 Days After Peace Deal, Says Report
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
