The United States is seeking to destroy Islamic civilization and Iranians should be aware of that, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday.
"One of the main tools used by the enemies to prevent the birth of modern Islamic civilization is through creating divisions among Muslims," he told a meeting of Muslim scholars, thinkers and political figures in Tehran, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.
Khamenei said that the Americans are against the principles of Islam and no one should be deceived by their statements in support of some sects, citing "the statements of the former president (George W. Bush) who after the September 11 spoke about the war of the crusades, in fact, indicated the war between the arrogant world and Islam."
The Supreme Leader then cited statements of by current U.S. officials who claim to be in agreement with Islam and blasted them as untrue.
"The present U.S. officials are against the principles of Islam and unlike their statements they are after fomenting differences among Muslims and its example is creating terrorist groups like Daesh (the Arabic word for the Islamic State or ISIS) and other groups that have been created through the funding of the U.S. affiliates and their political aids; they (the American officials) have caused the recent tragedies in the Muslim world," he charged.
Khamenei pointed out the statements of an American politician who had said that Islamism is the enemy of the United States, and said, "The Shiite or Sunni does not make any difference for the Americans; they are against any Muslim who wants to live in accordance with Islamic rules and make efforts to that end."
He also claimed that the main goal of the “arrogant powers” is creating an internal war among Muslims and destroying the Muslim countries' infrastructures in Syria, Yemen and Libya.
Muslims, said Khamenei, "should not remain silent and surrender to this plot, rather they should stand against these plots insightfully and by maintaining their resistance".
The comments are the latest among the Supreme Leader’s many verbal attacks against the United States, which he refers to as the “Great Satan”.
In October, Khamenei banned any further negotiations between Iran and the United States following the nuclear deal reached last summer.
A month later he ordered the Iranian government to implement a blockade of U.S. imports as part of an outline for creating an "economy of resistance."
And, more recently, Khamenei accused the United States of using "money and sexual attractions" to wreak havoc on the Islamic Republic's way of life.