Iran's supreme leader calls US, Israel enemies of all Muslims

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement Sunday (local time) declaring the US and Israeli governments enemies of the entire Muslim community.

The statement is widely interpreted as an appeal to Muslim-majority nations not to cooperate with US economic sanctions against Iran, though it contained no explicit reference to the sanctions.

According to Iranian media including Tasnim News Agency and Press TV, Khamenei issued the statement to mark Islamic Unity Week, saying of the US and Israeli governments: "They are not merely enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran" — they are hostile to "the entire Muslim ummah (community)."

Khamenei referred to the US and Israeli governments as "the criminal rulers of the United States and the illegitimate Zionist regime."

He said the Muslim ummah targeted by the US and Israel includes nations in West Asia and North Africa, adding that "in that sense, the rulers of those countries are no exception." Even those regarded as allied with Washington and Tel Aviv, he said, cannot escape being treated as adversaries.

Khamenei said it remains fresh in memory "how the leaders of the US and Israel have made openly disrespectful and demeaning remarks toward certain leaders of Islamic nations."

He said Muslims across diverse communities must uphold the Quranic principle of being "firm against disbelievers and merciful among themselves" — a rule, he said, that must never be violated.

Islamic Unity Week is an observance established in 1981 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900–1989), who led the Islamic Revolution in Iran, to promote harmony and solidarity between Islam's two main sects, Sunni and Shia.

The statement came as the United States declared an "economic ostracization campaign" against Iran and stepped up pressure on Persian Gulf states to join its sanctions regime.

The Trump administration has threatened to sanction any country that helps or turns a blind eye to financing the Iranian government. On Friday, marking six months since the start of the war with Iran, Washington announced plans to add the UAE branch of Banque Misr — an Egyptian bank — to the US Treasury Department's sanctions list.

Egypt, like the UAE, is considered a key US ally in the Middle East.

Iran has condemned US economic sanctions as "state terrorism" and "crimes against humanity," urging other nations not to cooperate with them.