Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday suggested a US pressure campaign on Venezuela aimed to seize its territory and oil wealth in lengthy diatribe against hegemony of Western countries.
The 86-year-old theocrat styles himself a divinely-appointed protector of the oppressed worldwide and his remarks were couched as a general description of how weaker nations are usurped by more powerful ones led by the United States.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the birth anniversary of Fatemeh Zahra — the daughter of the Prophet Mohammad and a revered figure in Shia Islam — Khamenei said the motives behind what he called hegemonic pressure differ across regions.
“Sometimes it is about expanding territory,” he said, pointing to “what the Americans are doing with some Latin American countries.”
Western designs can also aim at extracting commodities," he said. “They apply pressure so they can take a country’s underground resources — its oil, for example."
Iran's relationship with Washington and Western Europe is at a low ebb since the United States joined a surprise Israeli military offensive against the country in June.
Britain, France and Germany then triggered the reimposition of international sanctions which have throttled Iran's already ailing economy.
Khamenei’s remarks came a day after the United States seized a Venezuela-linked tanker accused of transporting sanctioned Iranian and Venezuelan oil.
Washington says the tanker was part of a network tied to Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Iran’s embassy in Caracas condemned the operation as an illegal act, calling it “robbery in the Caribbean Sea” and a violation of international maritime law.
US forces have mounted the largest buildup of forces in the Caribbean since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and President Donald Trump has suggested the policy aims at the removal of leftist populist President Nicolas Maduro and has vowed attacks on land.
US air strikes on alleged drug boats in the region have killed at least 87 people.
'Hearts and minds'
Khamenei added that Western states also push to “reshape cultural and religious life,” often by influencing lifestyles and social norms through media. “They try to change how people live, think and believe,” he said.
But he said the most consequential objective is what he described as an engineered identity transformation. “More fundamental than all of these is the effort to change a nation’s identity,” he said.
Iranian officials accuse the West of seeking to foment sedition and rebellion in the country including by fomenting opposition to mandatory veiling laws for women.
The death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in morality police custody in 2022 led to nationwide protests dubbed the Woman, Life, Freedom movement which were quashed with deadly force.
Khamenei added that attempts to alter Iran’s cultural and religious foundations stretch back a century. “For a hundred years they have tried to rewrite who we are — our religion, our history, our culture,” he said. “The Islamic Revolution cleared that away, but the pressure continues. And resisting this pressure is essential.”
Khamenei said Iran is progressing despite economic and political pressures. “By God’s grace, the Islamic Republic is moving forward,” he told the audience of religious reciters. He said Iranians continue to show the world that Islam stands for “steadfastness, strength, honesty and justice.”
He also said the country faces a sustained “media and propaganda war” aimed at undermining public morale. “The enemy learned it cannot gain this land through military pressure,” he said. “So it turned to changing hearts and minds. We are standing firm, but the threat is real.”
