Iran warns attack on Ali Khamenei would trigger jihad

Any attack on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would trigger a declaration of jihad, or holy war, the Iranian Students News Agency quoted Iran’s national security parliamentary commission as saying on Tuesday.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have grown following a severe crackdown on protests across Iran, which US President Donald Trump warned could lead to a response from Washington.

“Any attack on the Supreme Leader means a declaration of war with the entire Islamic world and must await the issuance of a Jihad decree by Islamic scholars and the response of Islam’s soldiers in all parts of the world,” the parliamentary commission said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a similar statement on Sunday, saying this would be viewed as a declaration of war on the Iranian people in a post on X/Twitter.

“Any aggression against the supreme leader of our country is tantamount to all-out war against the Iranian nation,” he wrote.

Both these statements follow Khamenei calling Trump a criminal during a speech on Saturday, stating he is “guilty for the casualties, damages, and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation.”

“Western media figures interfered in past seditions, but this time the US president himself encouraged the sedionists,” Khamenei said.

He went on to say that both the US and the “Zionist regime” are guilty.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.