‘The enemy has been defeated’: Iranian PM Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claims victory over US, Israel

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over the United States and Israel in a written message on Friday for Nowruz, the Persian New Year. “For now, thanks to the special unity established between you and our fellow countrymen – despite differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins – the enemy has been defeated,” he said.He further said that the U.S. and Israeli attacks were based on the illusion that by killing the supreme leader, they could lead to the overthrow of the government, the Associated Press reported.He claimed that the attacks on Türkiye and Oman were part of a “conspiracy by Zionist enemies” to sow division among regional countries.Khamenei said: “We share common creeds, common interests with our neighbors and jointly fight against the forces of global arrogance.”He praised the Iranians for “establishing nationwide defensive fronts and strongholds across cities, neighborhoods and mosques, delivering such a bewildering blow to the enemy that it plunged them into contradictory and irrational rhetoric.”Mojtaba has yet to make a public appearance since being appointed to succeed his father, Ali Khamenei. Khamenei was killed in a U.S. and Israeli airstrike at the start of the war.Earlier in the day, Iran released a video of Khamenei teaching religious studies to a group of students.More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began. In Lebanon, Israeli air strikes have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million, according to official estimates. In Israel, at least 15 people were killed in Iranian missile attacks, while the United States reported at least 13 military personnel killed in ongoing hostilities.