Mullah regime renews talk about US targeting Khamenei to garner popular support

Nora Bandari

Iran has again hinted at an American conspiracy against it in light of the world’s preoccupation with the corona virus pandemic, as Tehran announced that Washington wanted to target the home of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Aerospace Force, said on Saturday, April 25, that Washington had been planning to bomb Khamenei’s house in January following the killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on January 3 in a US airstrike on his car in Baghdad.

Hajizadeh mentioned US President Donald Trump’s threat to Iran about targeting 52 Iranian sites, including cultural ones, in the event that Tehran responds to the assassination of Soleimani. Hajizadeh pointed out during an interview broadcast on Iranian state television that one of the cultural centers Washington wanted to target was the residence of the Supreme Leader.

The Iranian regime had promoted that it would forcefully retaliate against the United States to avenge the killing of Soleimani, and it attacked two Iraqi bases hosting US and anti-ISIS coalition forces on January 8, but the Iranian attack failed. The Revolutionary Guards also erred and targeted a Ukrainian plane carrying different nationalities, which resulted in the death of 176 people. This gave Tehran international problems after the families of the victims blamed the mullah regime for downing of the plane and demanded compensation for that error.

Popular alignment

So the question arises as to why Iran has returned to bringing up the claim that the United States is targeting the Supreme Leader’s house and what the implications are of that announcement.

Iranian affairs specialist Osama al-Hetimi told the Reference that it is clear the strongest indication behind the regime renewing its talk about the assassination of Soleimani and the claim that Washington was planning to target Khamenei’s house after more than three months had passed can be seen as Tehran still betting on using popular mobilization against the United States as one of the most important means to vent public outrage and hold Washington responsible for much of their suffering.

Hetimi pointed out that the Iranian regime wants to create a popular alignment behind the leadership and to relieve internal tension over successive failures in dealing with the country’s crises, the most recent of which is the outbreak of the corona virus, which has infected about half a million Iranians, according to official estimates.

Releasing such statements may give the Iranian regime a logical justification for its recent positions, Hetimi said, especially after rejecting the aid offered by the United States to combat the corona pandemic, as it would be contradictory if Iran accepted financial aid or any assistance from a country seeking to get rid of Iran’s religio-political Supreme Leader.

Hetimi added that the validity of these statements cannot be accepted, as they are obviously incompatible with the US strategy in dealing with the Iranian regime, as targeting Khamenei would only take care of the man, but the regime would continue, while popular discontent with it is increasing day by day. Also, over the past three years, the United States has not exceeded the level of skirmishes and pressure to compel Tehran to continue its commitment to its role in the region.