Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday denied reports that Tehran had sought to enlist Riyadh as an intermediary in talks with Washington, saying outreach to President Donald Trump was beneath Iran's dignity.
“They fabricate rumors claiming that Iran has sent a message to the United States through some country. It is pure lies. Nothing of the sort ever happened," Khamenei said in a defiant speech for a day celebrating the country's Basij domestic militia.
"The Americans betray even their own friends ... Because of oil and underground resources, they are willing to ignite conflicts anywhere in the world — and this warmongering has now reached Latin America as well. A government of this kind certainly does not deserve for a state such as the Islamic Republic to seek relations or cooperation with it."
Last week, Reuters reported citing two sources familiar with the exchange that Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian had urged Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help persuade US President Donald Trump to revive nuclear talks.
The crown prince visited Washington last week and has a warm relationship with Trump.
Iranian officials have criticized a US military buildup in the Caribbean aimed at Venezuela, an ally which under leftist populist President Nicolas Maduro has been a strong critic of its neighbor to the north.
'US getting more isolated'
Khamenei mocked Trump's bid to resolve the war in Ukraine and said Washington's international standing was on the wane.
“Day by day, the United States is becoming more isolated in the world. Even if the leaders of some countries flatter it, among nations it is becoming more and more disliked," he said.
"It was the United States that started the war in Ukraine, and it has not achieved any results. The current US president had said he would resolve the issue in three days, yet now, after a year, he is trying to force through a 28-point plan," the Supreme Leader said.
'Iran defeated US and Israel'
The 86-year-old theocrat, who is the ultimate decision-maker on domestic and foreign policy, lamented not being able to give the speech to an audience. He spoke from behind a lectern in a video message, having sharply reined in his public appearances after Israeli assassinations of scores of military officials in a surprise June conflict.
"We suffered losses. We lost dear lives — there is no doubt about that. It is the nature of war. But the Islamic Republic showed that it can stand up to the enemy," he said.
Khamenei added that Israel and the United States failed to achieve its objectives in the war, and that its Mideast arch-foe's main goal of provoking an uprising had come to naught.
“They spent 20 years planning for a war to break out in Iran, hoping to provoke the people, rally them to their side, and turn them against the system. But they returned empty-handed; the outcome was the opposite, and they failed," he said.
"Even those who had differences with the system stood by it. A broad public unity emerged — something that must be appreciated."
Despite rising costs of living and a harsh post-war crackdown on political dissent even as some social strictures were relaxed, there have been few large-scale protests against authorities.
'Let us support Pezeshkian'
Khamenei gave a fresh public endorsement to Pezeshkian, a relative moderate who has absorbed wide criticism for the economic malaise and is under pressure from hardliners over his cabinet's performance.
“Let us support the esteemed president and the well-serving government. They have begun good initiatives, and God willing, their results will be seen later," he said. "The government carries a heavy burden. Running the country is not easy, and the government must be supported.”
A drought which is depleting reservoirs has added to Iranians' woes and Khamenei urged people to pray for rain.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government recently seized 447 kilograms of narcotics and performance-enhancing substances – largely amphetamine-based – during coordinated raids carried out on land and at sea.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Gunter Younger told the agency that the seizure was “a landmark moment,” saying it shows law-enforcement bodies are now taking the trafficking of banned substances far more seriously.
WADA and Yemeni officials assessed, AFP reported, that a safe haven for drugs production in Syria had collapsed with the fall of Bashar al-Assad to rebel forces in December and that the lawless Arabian Peninsula country was taking its place.
"Iran is the one that provided the experts with financial support and modern equipment, and investigations have proven this, as well as the experts' confessions," Major Murad al-Radwany, Interpol's Yemen-based internal security coordinator told AFP on Thursday.
Yemen's internationally-recognized government is at war with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls most of the country's population centers.
Iranian-backed production and smuggling
The dismantled facility was “the first factory to be set up in Yemen and equipped with the latest modern devices,” Radwany said.
The builders, he said, planned to open additional labs in other cities to produce stimulants for export.
"The Houthis consider it a source of income, facilitating smuggling to neighboring countries,” he added.
"Iran also benefits from this, and its goal is to export drugs and stimulants to Arab countries and destabilize security and stability in Yemen and neighboring countries."
This aligns with earlier reports, which has documented how the collapse of central government control in Syria turned that country – long a global hub for the amphetamine-based drug Captagon – into a major production center. Iran-backed militias and regional proxy groups, according to those reports, have helped smuggle Captagon into Persian Gulf states, fueling instability and militia financing.
A 2025 case in Syria saw the arrest of a militia leader linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on charges of drug trafficking and antiquities smuggling.
Iran’s response
In response to the allegations, an Iranian foreign-ministry spokesperson told AFP that the accusations are “unfounded.”
Nonetheless, the mounting drug busts and associated intelligence suggest a widening spotlight on Iran’s involvement in regional narcotics – with growing calls for independent investigation and international scrutiny.
Mehdi Rasouli, a well-known maddah or religious eulogist and chant leader, performed at the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah in Tehran. It is the main auditorium within Khamenei's office complex known as Beyt-e Rahbari or the Leader's house.
“From now on, we have one goal — and that is the heart of Tel Aviv,” he said. "Your accursed name will no longer remain in this world. Tell that yellow-haired murderer he will be no more," he said in reference to Donald Trump to loud assent from attendees.
The event held earlier this week formed part of ceremonies marking Basij Day, when Iran’s volunteer paramilitary force is feted.
Rasouli framed the moment as a test of endurance and loyalty. “You will never see Iran’s surrender, not even in your sleep,” he said.
He added in a classic Persian turn of phrase, “People stronger than you are now under tons of dust,” a poetic way of saying more formidable foes lie in their graves.
Crowd reactions followed the familiar arc of such performances – chants at crescendos, brief laughter at lines like “If you mention the name of Iran, be polite,” and tears as Rasouli invoked recent war dead, including Revolutionary Guard commanders killed in clashes with Israel.
He delivered the poem in epic, martial cadences, and the audience periodically answered with slogans.
The recital ended with pledges of allegiance to the Supreme Leader, prompting the hall to respond “Labbayk, labbayk” – an Arabic formula of assent meaning “at your service” in a show of allegiance to Khamenei.
A poem of menace and myth
A maddah is a lay performer, not a cleric. Over three decades, their role has expanded from mourning rites to emotionally charged performances that can carry political overtones.
Their verses, set to strong rhythms, aim to stir grief for the martyrs of Karbala, devotion to the Prophet’s family, and, increasingly, political zeal.
When delivered at the leader’s own venue, the rhetoric carries extra weight for loyalists – even as officials can argue that maddahs speak for themselves, not for the state.
Rasouli’s text stitched together recurring motifs. He opened by hailing Iranian resilience and vowing ultimate triumph – “In the end, Iran will be the victor of the battle” – before pivoting to taunts of US and Israeli leaders.
He warned, “You, like a Pharaoh, imagined you will not die,” and jabbed, “Sometimes pay a visit to the graves of Carter and Reagan – it wouldn’t hurt.”
At another point he warned: “Ajal does not delay in taking your soul,” using the Persian term ajal – the appointed time of death – to suggest that fate, or the Angel of Death, does not pause, a standard rhetorical device in Persian oratory.
The poem drew on classical Persian epic and Shi'ite sacred history.
Rasouli invoked Rostam, the pre-Islamic epic hero of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, likening Israel to a div (demon) and rhyming “div” with “Aviv” to fix the poem’s “final aim on the heart of Tel Aviv.”
He also reached for Shi'ite iconography, saying Ali, the first Shi'ite Imam, would come for Israel with his bifurcated sword Zolfaghar, a symbol widely recognized in Iran.
The barbs sat alongside appeals to faith and fidelity: victory, he said, hinges on obedience to the Supreme Leader – a cue for synchronized chants of “Labayk.”
Modern military references appeared in the poem too. In a couplet that played on rhyme and Iranian missiles, Rasouli said: “If you have bunker-busters, we have Kheibar-Shekan,” pairing the Persian for “bunker-breaker” (sangar-shekan) with Kheibar-Shekan (Khaybar-Breaker), the name of an Iranian solid-fuel medium-range ballistic missile unveiled in 2022.
Khaybar also refers to a 7th-century Jewish oasis near Medina and, in Shi'ite lore, to Imam Ali’s breaching of its fort – a religious touchstone repurposed in modern rhetoric.
Why eulogists matter
Under Ali Khamenei, maddahs regularly perform at his residence on major religious occasions and enjoy networks of patronage that can extend through state and quasi-state institutions.
Analysts say eulogists act as emotional amplifiers: knitting mourning, nationalism and loyalty into a single ritual package.
Within pro-government circles, however, the venue and proximity to power matter; when a poem is staged at the leader’s inner sanctum, supporters treat it as consonant with the leadership’s mood, if not a formal policy.
The eulogist scene is diverse, spanning apolitical performers, staunch loyalists to the leadership, and figures tied to rival conservative factions.
Celebrity maddahs have campaigned for candidates, criticized senior officials, and at times helped mobilize crowds.
Their hey’ats (religious associations) fund and stage mass ceremonies during Muharram and Arbaeen, and some maintain close ties with the Revolutionary Guards’ Basij militia.
There are at least 150,000 maddahs in Iran now some of whom receive “astronomical” sums as “gifts” for their much-advertised performances.
In a genre long fused with piety and politics, Rasouli leaned into a newer twist: Persian epic motifs spliced onto Shi'ite heroism – a form once anchored almost entirely in Shi'ite themes.
Shahnameh references now sit alongside invocations of Ali and the “martyrs,” recasting loss and defiance in a national-myth frame.
Inside the hall, the result is part sermon, part rally, part catharsis.
Established in 1979 under IRGC command as a mass mobilization force, the Basij has long been embedded in Iran’s internal security apparatus.
“Basij volunteers were active in the fields of security and public support from the first day of the escalation,” the Revolutionary Guards Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Pakpour said on Thursday.
Addressing a nationwide Basij drill, he said public expectations of the Guards and its volunteer network have increased and that both institutions must intensify their efforts.
Rights groups have long documented the Basij’s role in crushing major waves of unrest.
They cite the 2009 post-election protests, the November 2019 crackdown that killed hundreds, and the 2022–23 uprising after Mahsa Amini’s death. Reports describe beatings, arbitrary detentions, and the use of live ammunition. Iranian authorities deny any systematic abuse.
In Zahedan, deputy IRGC commander Ali Fadavi told a Basij rally on Wednesday that June’s clashes signaled “the defeat of the arrogance front,” in reference to the United States and Israel.
He argued the episode marked “the start of a new path” and said Washington sought to halt the fighting after Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
Washington earlier engaged Tehran over its nuclear program with a 60-day deadline. On June 13, a day after the ultimatum expired, Israel launched a surprise campaign that ended with US strikes on June 22.
Hardline calls for any future confrontation
Basij members oppose ending a future conflict without the complete destruction of Israel, Senior IRGC adviser Mohammadreza Naghdi also said Thursday in Mashhad.
“If another battlefield opens, the Basij’s demand is that we should not stop this war without the complete destruction and elimination of the Zionist regime.”
He described Iran’s adversaries as “in their weakest state” and said the Basij is prepared “to endure any hardship” in a wider war.
“Soon you will be reduced to misery by these Basijis,” said Naghdi.
Earlier in the week, IRGC spokesperson Ali-Mohammad Naeini told a Basij conference that Iran had faced “all of CENTCOM and NATO on its own without seeking assistance from any country.”
Iran’s command structure, he said, was restored quickly after initial strikes and credited coordinated mobilization for sustaining what he called political and economic stability.