Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has delivered yet another anti-US and anti-Israeli speech, implicitly also attacking Saudi Arabia, saying that "Anyone who extends a hand of friendship to America and Israel is an oppressor."
The May 6 speech that was meant to be a guide for Iranians planning to go to Hajj pilgrimage turned out to be mainly about regional issues linked to the possible rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Khamenei obviously hoped that Riyadh would abandon plans to establish ties with Jerusalem after the Gaza war, but this was not what exactly happened due to mediation by the United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Chief William Burns's engaged in active diplomacy that took them to the region several times during the past months.
Referring to a term coined by his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini, "Distancing from the infidels," which strained ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and resulted in the death and injury of tens of pilgrims due to the chaos caused by Iranian government agents in Mecca during the Haj pilgrimage in 1987, Khamenei described this year's Haj agenda for Iranian pilgrims as "distancing from the criminal Zionist enemy and its supporters."
This marked a return to the hostile rhetoric that was softened by Khamenei when Iran resumed its ties with Saudi Arabia in early 2023 after seven years, in a China brokered deal between the two countries.
In his speech, while targeting Saudi officials and others, Khamenei contradicted himself by calling for "unity and communication among Muslims." This overlooks the fact that his and his predecessors' hostile remarks about the Saudis contributed to one of the most significant divides among Muslim nations in the contemporary history of the region. At one point, Khomeini expressed in anger that even if he were to make peace with his arch enemy, the United States, normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia would remain absolutely impossible.
Khamenei has also lashed out at Saudi Arabia several times making angry comments against the plan to establish ties between Riyadh and Jerusalem.
On a religious note, Khamenei's comments annoys Iranians who see the pilgrimage as a religious responsibility and do not want to make themselves pawns in yet another political game played by Khamenei.
Khamenei called Haj an opportunity for Iranian Muslims to communicate with other Muslims. This comes while his hostile policies and hate speech has left very few friends for Iran from among Muslim nations. At the same, once again contradicting himself, he called on Iranian pilgrims to ignore national, ethnic and religious differences among Muslims.
Meanwhile, while calling for friendship among the believers of Abrahamic religions he excluded the Jewish State by calling Israel "a blood sucker" and "a rabid dog." A few minutes later he attributed "blood sucking" to "Western civilization" adding another dimension to his hateful speech.
He said the United States was equally responsible for what happened in Gaza because of its all-out support for Israel. He further called Israel an enemy of Muslims and said the United States was its accomplice.
Khamenei also reiterated that Iran would lend its unwavering support to the people of Palestine and will not wait for others to join. He called on Iranian and non-Iranian pilgrims to support Palestinians. He also called on the pilgrims to rebel against tyrant rulers.
Iran is sending 87,550 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year starting from May 14 for 25 days.
In an interview with reformist Jamaran News, Saeed Moidfar, the former Tehran University academic, underscored the Islamic Republic's repeated failures in imposing its desired lifestyle and compulsory hijab, which the people have fiercely resisted.
“Homogenizing is a project pursued by ideological states. They try to see everyone as similar; there is no longer any diversity in culture, values, norms, or lifestyles,” Moidfar explained. “The project has, of course, failed worldwide despite using force.”
Even with setbacks, the regime seems to persist in its attempts to revert the situation to pre-2022 protests, a move that the sociologist suggests is bound to fail as “norms or rules can be accepted if people agree with them.”
Following the wave of protests known as the Woman Life Freedom movement, during which at least 550 protesters were murdered by security forces, including dozens of children, the government took the morality police out of the streets.
Even in religious cities, many women now only partially cover their hair, wear heavy makeup and tight-fitting clothing, or even drop their headscarves altogether.
On April 13, however, the police launched a new crackdown against women called the Nour Initiative. Now, women rebelling against the hijab are the subject of morality police violence again.
Moidfar said that over the last three or four years, some parts of the state have not been concerned about the social consequences of their policies, actions, and plans. Hinting that they may be trying to maintain popularity among a minority that supports them, he said, “The reality is that a large part of society is going their separate way.”
It is possible to divide the minority Moeidfar divides into roughly into three categories: non-confrontational individuals, ordinary religious people, and hardliners.
Since President Ebrahim Raisi's administration took office 32 months ago, the situation has worsened for the ruling class. The president is now a hardliner, so Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who essentially selected him, cannot attribute the deep economic problems to him, which was his strategy during ‘moderate’ Hassan Rouhani’s tenure.
Iran's economic situation has deteriorated, and inflation is officially at more than 52%, with food prices rising higher than ever.
Consequently, a section of society that avoided confrontation but whose red line was financial concerns does not appear to be content any longer.
In particular, they are concerned that nothing appears to be done to improve the economy. Khamenei’s strategy of looking to the East rather than the West has proven problematic. China is eager to buy discounted Iranian oil but wary of political ties, while Russia is tied to Putin's costly invasion of Ukraine. Instead of seeing an economic boost from ties to Russia, Iran is bound to another heavily sanctioned system.
The regime has desperately tried to overestimate the number of ordinary religious people to maintain its power, and its attempt to implement its ideology through force has even disappointed them.
During the latest wave of repression, more women from the "reformist" camp and religious backgrounds have joined Iranian protesters in demanding freedom of choice. A prominent Islamic scholar, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, 63, has stripped off her veil and publicly criticized Khamenei as a dictator and condemned the compulsory hijab law.
Another example is Mostafa Tajzadeh, who, in a letter from prison on Thursday, pointed to Khameni's responsibility for the recent crackdown on women, saying he has no clear strategy for addressing rampant inflation and has resorted to oppressive measures to silence public debate.
"Inflation, corruption, and oppression are turning Iran and its cities into a ticking time bomb," Tajzadeh wrote.