Khamenei warns of attempts to create โdiscordโ in Iran
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 17 February, 2025, 22:34
Iranโs supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. | File photo
Iranโs supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Monday against what he called โsoft warโ tactics employed by enemies in a bid to sow discord within the Islamic republic.
โToday, we have no concerns regarding hard defence or the enemyโs military threats. Islamic Iran possesses strong capabilities to counter such threats, ensuring a high level of security for its people,โ said Khamenei during a speech in Tehran.
He said Iranโs โenemiesโ โ referring to Israel and the United States โ sought to create problems through โsoft war threatsโ aimed at โmanipulating public opinion, creating discord and casting doubt over the foundations of the Islamic Revolutionโ.
The remarks came a day after Israel received a shipment of heavy American weapons during a visit by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
On Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country had dealt a โmighty blow to Iranโs terror axisโ and vowed to โfinish the jobโ against Iran with US support.
Tehranโs allies in the region, including the Palestinian Hamas militants and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have suffered severe blows in conflicts with Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.
The war also saw rare direct attacks between Iran and Israel for the first time, after engaging in a shadow war for years.
In recent videos, Netanyahu has addressed Iranians in a seemingly friendly tone, and in one, he claimed that the Iranian government was leading its people โcloser to the abyssโ.
During his speech, Khamenei acknowledged that Iranians โhave problems and legitimate expectationsโ, referring to the economic difficulties faced by the country due to international sanctions.
US president Donald Trump, who returned to the White House for a second term in January, has reinstated his โmaximum pressureโ policy of sanctions against Iran, mirroring his approach during his first term.
Under this policy, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, accusing Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons, an allegation that Tehran has consistently denied.
Trump has recently called for striking a deal with Iran, but Khamenei later said โno problem will be solved by negotiating with Americaโ.