We still haven’t seen hide nor hair of Mojtaba Khamenei, the putative supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, since he got the top spot in March. The word going around is that he was severely maimed in the strike that killed his predecessor and father, and others speculate that he may actually be dead, while Iranian officials pretend he is alive in order to give their almost universally hated regime some legitimacy.
Whatever may be going on with Mojtaba, however, on Saturday, the X account that bills itself as “the official account for the news and statements of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei” came alive with an energy that was positively Trumpian, putting up fourteen posts in quick succession, detailing how the rulers of Iran plan to gain sweet revenge against those whom they hate. (It could have been one long message, but Mojtaba, or whoever is writing in his name on X, apparently hasn’t shelled out the eight bucks a month for a blue checkmark.)
Whoever it actually came from, the message came with a bit of fanfare; at 5:41 a.m. Eastern time, the alleged Mojtaba announced that “in an hour” there would come “Imam Sayyid Mojtaba Khamenei's important message following the funeral and burial of the Leader of Truth-Seekers of the World, Martyr Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei.” And sure enough, 54 minutes later, the posts started coming.
Mojtaba, or whoever, started out by praising the Imam Hussein, whom Islamic tradition identifies as the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the founding figure of Shi’ite Islam, and the grandson of the prophet of Islam himself, Muhammad. At the Battle of Karbala in Iraq in the year 680, the Sunni caliph Yazid killed Hussein, and that killing is generally considered to mark the beginning of the formal split between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.
Every year on the tenth day of the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, Shi’ites engage in elaborate public mourning for Hussein, often whipping themselves or cutting their heads with knives to express their grief and punish themselves that they weren’t on hand fourteen centuries ago to save their leader.
That’s why Mojtaba is talking about Hussein: he attempts to portray his late father, who before he was killed stained his hands with the blood of 40,000 of his countrymen for the crime of protesting against his criminal and inhumane regime, as a martyred leader in the mold of one of the pivotal founding figures of Shi’ism. What better way to cement loyalty to the regime than by associating loyalty to it with loyalty to Allah himself?
To drive the point home, Mojtaba tells us that “Martyr Khamenei acted like Hussain, and engaged in jihad and resistance in a manner similar to Imam Hussain (pbuh).” “PBUH” is “peace be upon him,” which Muslims generally say after uttering the name of a prophet; it is a sign of how highly Mojtaba, and Shi’ites in general, regard Hussain that he used it after his name as well.
Mojtaba added: “Among the followers of Hussain are those whose blood, when unjustly spilled in his path and for his school of thought and ideals, moves the Muslim Ummah [global community] to action, so that their time becomes joined to Ashura and their place to Karbala.”
Khamenei is saying that it’s time once again to go to war for the Islamic faith. “For years,” he says, “the Iranian nation has sacrificed its children on the path of Hussain, battling the enemies of Hussain and the enemies of Hussain’s way, and today it seeks to take revenge for his blood and the blood of the people like Hussain in our time.”
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That would, of course, be dear old dad, whom Mojtaba then addresses: “We pledge to avenge your pure blood and the blood of all the martyrs of these two [recent] wars by taking revenge against the criminal, disgraceful murderers. This vengeance is what our nation is demanding, and this must definitely be done.” And: “The criminal, disgraceful murderers of the martyred Leader, whose names are fully documented from the highest to the lowest ranks, will carry their dream of a peaceful death in bed to the grave.”
Whoever wrote all this is making it abundantly clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran has not changed. It has not deviated even an inch from its goals of “death to America” and “death to Israel,” which Mojtaba’s father said were policies, not mere slogans. It will keep waging jihad against both countries. It will keep trying to murder Trump. It will keep sponsoring jihad terror activity around the world.
One hopes that this message is being carefully studied in Washington, and any idea that the regime has somehow changed being definitively put to rest.
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