Iran International
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has once again criticized other Islamic countries for not severing all relations with Israel, and called for the destruction of the Jewish state.
During a speech on Thursday, Khamenei reiterated his belief in political Islam and Islam as the cornerstone of social structure, accusing heads of Islamic states of failing to follow the teachings of the Quran regarding Gaza. He stated, "The Almighty God will question the Muslim nations because they did not put pressure on their governments to stop supporting the Zionist regime as well as the Islamic governments because they did not follow the Quranic orders."
Khamenei questioned the actions of leaders of Muslim countries, asking whether they are adhering to the Quran's commandment not to “establish connections with the enemies of God and enemies of Muslims? And why the heads of Islamic countries are not openly severing their ties with the murderous Zionist regime and stopping to help that regime?" he asked while stressing that the Gaza war is the biggest current issue of the Islamic world.
Iran's leader also claimed that those who are fighting Israel, who he called the brave Resistance movement, are enacting the teachings of the holy book of Islam and promised that the “Zionist cancerous tumor” would be overthrown and destroyed.
Although Khamenei did not directly mention militant forces acting as proxies for Iran, such as the Houthis in Yemen, he has previously in early November called on Muslim nations to blockade Israel. While initially cautious about the Gaza-Israel conflict, Khamenei later urged Muslim states with political connections to Israel to temporarily sever ties. He also advocated for an Islamic oil and food embargo on Israel to force a ceasefire amid the conflict sparked by Hamas attacks in October.
After his call for a blockade of Israel, Houthis began firing missiles and drones on commercial and even naval vessels in the Red Sea region, disrupting global shipping. The United States and Britain have launched retaliatory air strikes at Houthi military installations.
"Some Islamic governments have condemned Israeli crimes in assemblies while others have not. This is unacceptable," Khamenei said in a speech to students on November 19 in which he also claimed that Israel had been defeated by Hamas. It was unclear which nations he was referring to as countries across the Arab world had all stood by Gaza in the wake of the war declared by Hamas on October 7.
Some Islamic countries including Turkey and Jordan expelled Israeli envoys after the conflict began, but Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa became the first Arab leader on November 19 to “unequivocally” condemn the Hamas attacks on Israel and urge the militants to release Israeli hostages.
On February 8, Khamenei reiterated his call for a blockade of Israel. “It is the duty of the governments to cut off political, propaganda and arms aid and not to send consumer goods to the Zionist regime,” Khamenei said.
Tehran has avoided any direct military involvement in the Israel-Hamas conflict but has used its proxy groups such as the Houthis and Hezbollah to attack Israeli and American targets in the region in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack. There were more than 160 rocket and drone attacks on American forces stationed in Iraq and Syria since mid-October, until the US launched air strikes against dozens of target in late January.
Spokesman Matthew Miller made the comments amid Iran's lowest ebb, when on the eve of next month's elections, turnout is expected to be the lowest in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Miller said the government fears "what they [Iranians] are capable of when they are given unfettered access to the internet and information", the 2022 uprising and its subsequent rejection of the government reflecting the power of the people in the face of the country's tyrannical regime.
Blaming Tehran for “choking off information that people need to make decisions about their lives and decisions about their futures,” Miller stressed that the regime’s policies to restrict the virtual space have harmed businesses and cost Iran’s economy billions of dollars.
Iran’s National Virtual Space Center announced a resolution banning the use of VPNs in the country on Tuesday, approved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“Employing VPN devices is prohibited, except for those with a legal permit,” the resolution stated, without specifying who will be eligible for the permits and what actions and purposes will be allowed under the new law.
During the press conference, Miller also vowed that Washington will continue its support for internet freedom in Iran, an integral part of the US campaign to further the cause of human rights in the country.
“In the height of the protests in 2022 and 2023, as many as one in three Iranians used US-supported anti-censorship and digital security tools such as VPNs. There are millions of Iranians that have continued to use those tools to this day,” Miller went on to say.
Since the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, sparked by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini, the likes of Instagram and Whatsapp have been banned. For millions of small businesses, it has been crippling. Many small businesses depend on such platforms, not least, women in remote regions.
Miller’s remarks come against the backdrop of mounting criticisms against US President Joe Biden over his policies regarding Tehran. Many Iranian activists and opposition figures, as well as American politicians, accuse the Biden administration of being too lenient towards Iran.
Iran's disruption of VPN networks has been coupled with an ongoing surge in internet crackdowns to silence opposition voices. The disruptions have led to decreased internet access speed, exacerbating concerns over online censorship and surveillance in Iran.
The latest bans come amid a broader crackdown on internet freedom activists. Among those detained is Youssef Ghobadi whose unofficial detention has sparked widespread outcry, along with the arrest of another activist known as "Segaro," who was active on the X platform. The two had been working to develop and distribute circumvention tools such as VPNs to help Iranians bypass internet censorship.
In last year's Freedom House report, the NGO stated "Iran experienced the worst score decline among the countries assessed, driven by the authorities’ disproportionate and violent crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests". It noted that "the government also shut down internet services, blocked WhatsApp and Instagram, and expanded its repressive surveillance apparatus".