Iran’s Supreme Leader Urges Islamic Unity: "The U.S. and Israel Are Entirely Hostile"

[Financial News] Iran’s Supreme Leader, who has not appeared in public for more than six months since the outbreak of the war, has urged the Islamic community not to cooperate with the United States and Israel.
According to Iranian media outlets including Tasnim News Agency and Press TV, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a statement on the 30th (local time) to mark Islamic Unity Week. Referring to the "criminal rulers of the United States and the illegal Zionist regime (Israel)," Mojtaba said, "They are not merely enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran." He also claimed that they "are hostile to the entire Muslim Ummah (community)."
Mojtaba said the Muslim Ummah also includes countries in West Asia and North Africa, adding, "In that sense, the rulers of these countries are no exception." He noted that many of them are regarded as allies, but said even they cannot escape being targeted by the United States and Israel.
Mojtaba said it is still fresh in the memory of "you and us" that the U.S. and Israeli governments made openly disrespectful and demeaning remarks about certain leaders of Islamic countries. He then stressed that Muslims in various Islamic communities must uphold the Quranic principle that they should "be firm against unbelievers and merciful among themselves," calling it a rule that must never be violated.
Islamic Unity Week is an event established in 1981 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to promote harmony and solidarity between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, the two major branches of Islam.
Mojtaba’s remarks are believed to have been made with U.S. economic sanctions in mind. On the 24th, the United States warned that it would carry out an "economic exclusion operation" targeting Iran and impose secondary sanctions on third countries that continue trade or financial transactions with Iran, including oil deals. On the 28th, the United States said it would place the UAE branch of Bank Misr, headquartered in Egypt, on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list.
In a statement on the 28th, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the new U.S. sanctions a "state act of terrorism targeting Iran and the world" and said that "all countries should refrain from joining the sanctions." It also urged governments around the world to regard the measures as "an international crime and a crime against humanity."


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