Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Ali KhameneiReuters

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sunday took to Twitter to belittle Israel, claiming the Jewish state is “weaker” than it has been in the past.

“The Zionist regime is clearly weaker than 10, 20 years ago. A few years ago they fought Hezbollah for 33 days and were defeated. They were defeated 2 years later in the 22-day war on Palestinian resistance; in 8-day war on oppressed people of Gaza and recently in the 2-day war,” tweeted the Iranian leader.

Khamenei’s tweet came one day after Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, called Israel a “cancerous tumor” and urged Muslim nations worldwide to unite and destroy Israel.

Speaking at a conference, Rouhani said that "one of the ominous results of World War II was the formation of a cancerous tumor in the region", adding later that Israel is a "fake regime".

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Rouhani's rhetoric showed that the international community should join the United States in sanctioning Iran.

"Israel knows very well how to defend itself against Iran's murderous regime. Rouhani's hate speech calling for the destruction of Israel proves once again why the nations of the world should join the sanctions against the Iranian terror regime, which also threatens them,” he said.

Rouhani’s remarks were condemned by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who said, “I strongly condemn the unacceptable statements by President Rouhani regarding Israel. Questioning Israel's right to exist and calling for its destruction is absolutely unacceptable.”

On Sunday, the European Union also condemned Rouhani’s comments, saying, “President Rouhani’s remarks bringing into question Israel’s legitimacy are totally unacceptable. They are also incompatible with the need to address international disputes through dialogue and international law.”

Khamenei and Rouhani both regularly criticize and threaten Israel. In July, Khamenei vowed that the US would be unable to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and that the Jewish state would ultimately disappear from the Middle East.

A month earlier, he posted a Twitter tirade against Israel, saying that “the Zionist regime will perish in the not-so-far future.”

The Supreme Leader has several times in the past referred to the Jewish state as a “cancer” and threatened to "annihilate" the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.