In a tweet Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared, “we strengthened our brothers’ fists in Gaza; West Bank will be armed.”

The quote was from a speech Khamenei delivered (embedded below) on November 25, to the International Congress on Takfirism.

In the section of the speech devoted to threatening Israel, Khamenei said:

The third task that should definitely be carried out is attending to the issue of Palestine. You should not allow the issue of Palestine, Holy Quds and al-Aqsa Mosque to be consigned to oblivion. This is what they want. They want the world of Islam to ignore the issue of Palestine. You can see that the Zionist regime cabinet has recently announced that Palestine is a Jewish country. It announced that Palestine is a Jewish country. They have been pursuing this issue from long ago. Now, they are openly declaring it. By pursuing the ignorance of the world of Islam, the masses of the people and Muslim nations, they are after occupying Holy Quds and al-Aqsa Mosque, and weakening the Palestinians as much as they can. We should pay attention to this.

All peoples should ask their governments to pursue the issue of Palestine. Islamic ulama should ask their governments to pursue the issue of Palestine. This is an important and major responsibility. We thank God that in the Islamic Republic, the government and the people share this belief. From the beginning, the Islamic Republic government and our magnanimous Imam announced and raised the policy of supporting Palestine and showing enmity towards the Zionist regime. This policy has continued until today. It is 35 years now that we have not deviated from this line and our people too are supportive with complete eagerness.

Sometimes, a number of those youth whose requests are not granted in this regard write a letter to me and say in an insistent manner, “Allow us to go and fight against the Zionist regime in the front lines”. Our people love fighting against the Zionists and the Islamic Republic has proved this as well. By Allah’s favor and grace, we have passed through the barrier of denominational discord. We helped Hezbollah of Lebanon – which is a Shia group – in the same way that we helped Hamas and Islamic Jihad and we will continue to do that [audience shout “Allahu Akbar”]. We did not become a prisoner of denominational limits. We did not differentiate between Shia, Sunni, Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi’i and Zaidi denominations. All Palestinian areas have to become armed.

We looked at our main goal and we offered help. We managed to strengthen the fists of our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and by Allah’s favor, we will continue to do that. I announced- and this will definitely happen- that the West Bank should be armed like Gaza and be prepared for defense [audience shout “Allahu Akbar”].

In July, a report from the United Nations documented Iranian arms smuggling to Hamas, which, in addition to supporting terror, is also in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1747, prohibiting Iran from exporting arms. In March, the Klos-C was intercepted in international waters as it made its way towards Gaza with a shipment of arms from Iran, including the types of rockets that Hamas used to target Israel during Operation Protective Edge.

Khamanei’s enmity wasn’t just directed towards Israel. In the next paragraph he said:

I will tell you dear brothers that America’s splendor should not intimidate you. The enemy has become weak. The enemy of Islam – which is arrogance – is weaker now compared to all other eras during the past 100, 150 years. Take a look at colonialist governments in Europe. They are faced with economic, political and security problems. Today, these governments have all sorts of problems. America is worse than them. It is faced with moral, political and serious financial and monetary problems. It is faced with disgrace and damage to its superpower status everywhere in the world, not just in the world of Islam.

The speech was delivered the day after the P5+1 nations agreed to extend the Joint Plan of Action with Iran for another seven months. In addition to expressing his continued enmity towards the United States, Khamanei portrayed the agreement as a victory for Iran, rather than a reasonable compromise.

As you saw, in order to confront the Islamic Republic on the nuclear issue, America and colonialist countries in Europe gathered and used all their power so that they could bring the Islamic Republic to its knees on this matter, but they failed and they will continue to fail [audience shout “Allahu Akbar”].

[Photo: Khamenei.ir / YouTube ]