Iran’s Khamenei Celebrates Birthday By Calling for Destruction of Israel

TEL AVIV – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei celebrated his 79th birthday on Monday by calling for the destruction of Israel and slamming President Donald Trump’s as yet unveiled peace plan as a “satanic, vicious plot.”

His Twitter feed on Monday was overlaid with a festive display of multicolored balloons, somewhat incongruous with the deluge of hate messages underneath.

“Everyone should know that the satanic and vicious plot that the U.S. has for #Palestine — calling it the Deal of Century — will never happen,” he tweeted.

“The turbulent dream that Al-Quds [Jerusalem] would be given to the Zionists will never come true.”

He continued: “The Palestinian nation will stand against it and Muslim nations will back the Palestinian nation, never letting that happen.”

“By God’s grace, the Palestinian nation will certainly gain victory over the enemies and will witness the day when the fabricated Zionist regime will be eradicated,” he vowed.

Much of what he tweeted was paraphrased from a speech delivered at a meeting of Iran’s Hajj organization on Monday. Khamenei took the opportunity to blast Saudi Arabia, home to Mecca where the faithful make the Muslim pilgrimage.

“Regrettably, some Muslim governments, due to their lack of faith in the principle of Islam, never mind the Palestinian cause, have chosen to sacrifice themselves for the US,” the state-affiliated Mehr media outlet quoted him as saying. He continued by predicting that “this too will come to nothing and they will see the day when the roots of the fabricated Zionist regime will dry up.”

He added that Mecca’s holy sites “belong to all Muslims, not to the rulers of Saudi Arabia.”

“Today, the Muslim World needs unanimity. Division is forbidden, because the enemy is focused on the Islamic World,” Khamenei emphasized.

He said that in order to conduct a “true” hajj, Muslims must commit to a complete “disavowal of the infidels.”

Khamenei also called for a fresh investigation into a 2015 crush during the hajj that killed hundreds of pilgrims, blaming the tragedy on the Saudi authorities’ alleged indifference to the safety of the participants.