![Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses people via a live broadcast on state television on the occasion of the anniversary of the 1978 Qom protests in Tehran, Iran on January 08, 2021. [Iranian Leader Press Office - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20210108_2_46251761_61360345.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Supreme Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced on Friday: “The decline of the enemy Zionist regime has begun and will not stop.”
Marking Al-Quds Day, an annual event that takes place on the last Friday of Ramadan, Khamenei asserted: “Israel is not a country, but a terrorist base against the nation of Palestine and other Muslim nations.”
He added: “The fight against this despotic regime is the fight against oppression and the fight against terrorism. This is a public duty to fight against this regime.”
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Khamenei strongly criticised the normalisation of ties between Israel and “some weak Arab governments”, considering this as attempts to undermine the Israeli “nightmare of Muslim unity.”
“I say this decisively,” he said, “these attempts will reach nowhere.”
At the same time, he called on the Palestinians to continue their resistance against the Israeli occupation and on Muslim governments to support the Palestinians in their struggle.