TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Tuesday that regional countries would no longer be shields for US bases, in a written statement carried by state television.

“What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” said Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he took office in March, in a message marking the Eidul Azha holiday.

He said the United States “in addition to no longer having any safe haven in the region for aggression and the establishment of military bases, is moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day”.

He also commended the “valiant warriors and self-sacrificing armed forces”, who “struck the Great Satan — namely America — and its trained beast, the Zionist regime”.

He said that the “shaky Zionist regime and the cancerous tumour of Israel have also drawn near to the final stages of their ill-fated lifespan”.

Khamenei stressed that the rituals at Arafat this year “hold double importance, and the depth and breadth of disavowing America and the Zionist regime surpasses the ritual of disavowal in the season and station of Haj”.

“After these blessed days, ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ will be the prevalent slogan of the Islamic Ummah,” he asserted.

US President Donald Trump has previously cited the slogans while justifying military action against Iran. Trump had said talks with Iran were going “nicely” in a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday, but warned of attacks if they failed. It “will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all,” he wrote.

Mojtaba Khamenei also extended an invitation to Muslim countries to work with Tehran to find a “resolution of the Islamic world’s problems”. In a post on X, the supreme leader said, “I, with sincerity and purity of intention, invite all Islamic countries and governments to friendship and cooperation in goodness, so that by working together we may take steps towards the advancement of the Islamic Ummah and the resolution of the Islamic world’s problems”. The remarks come as Iran and the United States continued exchanges aim­ed at reaching a deal to end the war which began on Feb 28 and spread across the region. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8.

Iran’s foreign ministry has said Tehran and Washington reached understandings on many issues in exchanges over a deal for ending the war, but warned an agreement was not yet imminent.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, succeeded his father Ali Khamenei who was killed in the opening US-Israel strikes of Feb 28, triggering retaliatory attacks by Tehran across the region.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2026