Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in the first message attributed to him, called for continued military resistance and said the Strait of Hormuz should remain a tool of pressure, even as questions persist about his health and whereabouts.
The message was not delivered in person. Instead, it was read aloud by a state television anchor while a still photograph of Khamenei was displayed on screen, meaning that nearly two weeks after the conflict began, no video or audio recording of the new leader himself has been released.
Iranian authorities have provided no direct evidence of his condition following reports that he may have been injured during the strikes that killed his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei.
In the written statement attributed to him, Khamenei addressed the war, domestic unity, regional tensions and retaliation against enemies.
War and military pressure
In the message, Khamenei praised Iran’s armed forces and called for continued military resistance against what he described as aggression by the United States and Israel.
“The demand of the masses of the people is the continuation of effective and regret-inducing defense.”
He also said Iran should continue to use the threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in the conflict.
“Certainly the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used,” he wrote.
Khamenei added that Iranian officials were studying the possibility of expanding the war into additional fronts where adversaries were vulnerable.
“Studies have been conducted regarding the opening of other fronts in which the enemy has little experience and is highly vulnerable,” he said. “Activating them will take place if the state of war continues and if it serves our interests.”
The statement also praised what Iran calls the “Axis of Resistance,” thanking allied armed groups in the region for supporting Tehran.
“We consider the countries of the resistance front our best friends,” he wrote. “The resistance front is an inseparable part of the values of the Islamic Revolution.”
He specifically referred to Yemen’s Houthis, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and armed groups in Iraq, saying they had stood alongside Iran despite obstacles.
Calls for unity and public participation
Much of the message was directed at Iran’s domestic audience, urging unity and mobilization during wartime.
Khamenei said that during the days immediately following the killing of his father, when Iran had temporarily been without a supreme leader or commander-in-chief, the population itself had shown resilience.
“The insight and intelligence of the great nation of Iran in the recent events and its perseverance, courage and presence astonished friends and enemies alike,” he wrote.
He warned that leadership and government institutions could not function effectively without public support, urging Iranians to maintain active participation in society.
“If your power does not appear on the scene, neither leadership nor any of the institutions whose true role is to serve the people will have the necessary effectiveness,” read the statement.
The new leader also called on citizens to continue participating in political and social activities during the war, including rallies and demonstrations.
“I remind you of the importance of participation in Quds Day ceremonies, where the element of confronting the enemy must be emphasized.”
Threat of retaliation
A major portion of the message focused on retaliation against those responsible for deaths during the war.
Khamenei vowed that the Islamic Republic would continue pursuing revenge for those killed in the conflict. “We will not ignore revenge for the blood of your martyrs,” he wrote.
He said retaliation would not be limited to the killing of his father but would extend to all Iranian casualties.
“The revenge we seek is not only for the martyrdom of the great leader of the revolution,” he wrote. “Every member of the nation who is martyred by the enemy becomes an independent case for revenge.”
Khamenei said some retaliation had already occurred but that further actions would continue.
“A limited amount of this revenge has already taken place in practice. But until it reaches its complete extent, this case will remain open above all others.”
Warning to regional governments
Khamenei also issued a warning to governments in the Middle East whose territories host US military facilities.
He said Iranian forces had struck some of those bases during the war and suggested further attacks could follow.
“In the recent attack some military bases were used,” he wrote. “As we had clearly warned, and without attacking those countries themselves, we targeted only those bases.”
He added that Iran would continue striking such installations if they were used against the country.
“From now on we will be forced to continue doing this,” he wrote.
Khamenei urged regional governments to shut down foreign military bases.
“These countries must determine their position toward those who have attacked our homeland and killed our people,” he wrote. “I recommend they close those bases as soon as possible.”
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
