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IRAN’S Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has urged Muslim countries, particularly those in the Gulf, to unite against what he described as their “real enemy”, warning that divisions among Muslims serve the interests of their adversaries.
In a message published on his Telegram account for Islamic Unity Week, which marks the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, Khamenei called for greater unity and cooperation among Muslim countries, including in defence.
He warned that anyone who creates divisions among Muslims, “knowingly or unknowingly”, was helping the enemies of Islam.
Reuters reported on Sunday that Khamenei also questioned whether Palestinians would have been left “so helpless” if Muslims had been united.
His appeal comes six months after he was reportedly injured in US-Israeli air strikes that triggered the Iran war and killed his father and predecessor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei has not appeared in public since the strikes.
His latest call for unity echoes remarks he made on Aug 28 to Iranians, when he said he had prohibited actions that could damage social cohesion and urged authorities to avoid “discouraging statements” that could weaken national and public morale.
Khamenei specifically addressed Gulf Arab rulers, asking whether “rogues without identity” would have dared to covet their lands and possessions if the peoples and governments of the Gulf had been “united under the flag of Islam”.
Since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Gulf Arab monarchies have regarded Tehran's revolutionary ideology, including its anti-monarchic rhetoric and regional influence, as a threat to their political systems.
Tensions between Iran and its Gulf neighbours have also intensified during the current conflict, with Tehran striking US military facilities and other infrastructure in Gulf states.
“My emphatic and repeated recommendation to the rulers of Islamic countries, especially the countries of West Asia and the Gulf, is to identify your real enemy, understand his plan and confront it,” Khamenei said. - August 30, 2026
