Leaders Condemn U.S. on Khomeini Anniversary
Iran’s leaders blasted the United States in defiant speeches commemorating the anniversary of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death in 1989. In a televised speech on June 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Khomeini’s successor – warned that Western powers were trying to infiltrate the country and undermine the Islamic Republic. He alleged that the nationwide protests that that erupted in September 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini were planned in “think tanks of Western countries.” Khamenei also blamed “traitors and mercenaries” for the “riots.”