Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has declared that the enemy has been “defeated,” praising national unity and resilience in a defiant Nauroz message delivered as the war with the United States and Israel enters its fourth week.

In a written statement marking the Persian New Year, Khamenei said US and Israeli strikes were based on the mistaken belief that killing top leaders would trigger the collapse of the Iranian government.

He asserted that these expectations had failed, with Iran remaining united and operational despite sustained attacks.

“At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you, our compatriots — despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins — the enemy has been defeated,” said Khamenei.

The message, read on state television, commended Iranians for maintaining religious observance alongside resistance during wartime, describing it as a reflection of strong national resolve.

He described the current war against Israel and the United States as the third war that the Islamic Republic has experienced over the last 12 months, after the June 2025 12-day conflict with Israel, but also nationwide protests at the start of this year, which Tehran blamed on Israel and the US.

By showing unity and resolve, Iranians had “dealt him (the enemy) a dizzying blow so that he now starts uttering contradictory words and nonsense,” Khamenei said in the message, which was also read out on Iranian state television.

He said Israel and the United States had the “illusion” that if Ali Khamenei and other military leaders were killed, they would create “fear and despair” and “realise the dream of dominating Iran and then dividing it”.

Ali Khamenei and over a dozen top security and other officials have been killed in the conflict so far.

Mojtaba Khamenei also said Iran and its allied forces in the region were “in no way” behind attacks on Oman and Turkey during the war, instead blaming “deception by the Zionist enemy” in reference to Israel.

He accused Israel, which Iran does not recognise, of “using false-flag tactics to create division between the Islamic Republic and its neighbours” and warned, “such actions may also occur in other countries”.

Khamenei described the 12-day war as a “serious miscalculation” on the part of Israel, which he said had wanted to “overthrow the Islamic system” in Iran.

Mojtaba Khamenei predicted that Iranian’s “unity will certainly become stronger and more solid, and your enemies will become humble and less powerful” in the coming year.

Khamenei said a “nationwide defensive front” had been established across cities, neighbourhoods and mosques, delivering a significant blow to the enemy.

He also vowed that Iran would seek accountability for those killed in recent strikes, saying Tehran would not abandon its right to retaliate.

Khamenei maintained that Iran was targeting only military installations and not civilians, adding that such operations would continue. At the same time, he expressed a desire for peaceful relations with neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan, and emphasised the importance of stronger ties across the Muslim world, including improved relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The statement came amid escalating rhetoric on both sides. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Iran’s naval and air capabilities had been severely degraded and its ballistic missile production disrupted — assertions rejected by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

A military spokesperson, Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, said Iran continued to produce missiles despite wartime conditions. However, Iranian state media later reported that Naeini was killed in an airstrike shortly after his remarks.

Separately, Iran’s military warned that global recreational and tourist locations could become unsafe for its enemies, signalling a potential widening of the conflict.

Khamenei has not appeared in public since assuming leadership following the killing of his father in the early days of the war. Reports from US and Israeli officials have suggested he may have been wounded in those initial strikes.