Iran International
The public rancor between US President Donald Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has gotten increasingly personal, suggesting that a standoff once mediated through proxies and carefully coded threats may be approaching a finale.
That escalation was on display last week when Trump openly questioned Khamenei’s right to rule and called him a “sick man” who kills his own people.
“It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” the president was quoted as saying by Politico. His blistering rhetorical intervention came after one of Khamenei's most strident speeches yet in which he, uncharacteristically, acknowledged thousands had been killed in the state's crackdown on protests this month.
"We consider the US president criminal for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation," Khamenei said.
Iranian officials denounced Trump’s language as “offensive” and “unacceptable,” with president Masoud Pezeshkian warning that any move against Khamenei would trigger an all-out war.
The latest public spat followed widespread protests inside Iran, which were quelled through the unprecedented use of force. Speaking about the unrest last week, Khamenei once again blamed Israel and the United States for incitement, accusing Washington of fomenting terrorism and sabotage.
'The most wretched of humankind'
While the language has grown sharper, the confrontation itself is not new.
The personal animosity between Trump and Khamenei reached a decisive turning point in January 2020, when a US drone strike in Baghdad ordered by Trump killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force and one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic.
Khamenei described those responsible as “the most wretched of humankind” and vowed revenge. The killing transformed what had been a strategic rivalry into a deeply personal feud—one infused with symbolism, grievance, and a sense of irreversibility.
In the years that followed, Khamenei increasingly personalized his attacks on Trump. He portrayed the US president as the embodiment of American arrogance and decay, at one point calling him a “clown.”
Still, the veteran theocrat most abstained from uttering the name of his nemesis, out of contempt. Trump has done largely likewise.
'Ultimately responsible'
Even before Soleimani’s death, the two leaders had traded insults during Trump’s first term.
In June 2019, Trump imposed sanctions on Khamenei, calling him “ultimately responsible” for Tehran’s conduct. Iran’s then president, Hassan Rouhani, responded by calling the White House “mentally disabled,” a remark later endorsed by Khamenei’s office.
Trump dismissed the response as “ignorant and insulting,” saying Iran’s leaders “do not understand reality.”
A year later, when Japan’s then prime minister Shinzo Abe attempted to deliver a message from Trump to Khamenei, the Iranian leader publicly refused to accept it, telling Abe that he did not believe Trump was “worthy” of receiving a message.
Footage later showed Abe awkwardly folding the envelope away—an episode widely read as a calculated public snub.
One last dance?
Since Trump’s return to office, the exchanges have become more frequent and more explicit, often coinciding with moments of heightened tension, not least the June war between Iran and Israel.
On June 17, Trump took to social media for a rare direct attack.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” he wrote. “He is an easy target, but is safe there—we are not going to take him out, at least not for now.”
In October 2025, Khamenei described the United States under Trump as “a true manifestation of terrorism.” He compared Trump to figures such as Pharaoh and Nimrod, warning that “tyrants fall at the height of their arrogance.”
What distinguishes the current phase of their feud is not merely its volume, but its direction.
Earlier exchanges left room for ambiguity, intermediaries, or eventual de-escalation. The present rhetoric increasingly dispenses with those buffers, with Trump now speaking openly of replacement.
Whether this marks the final chapter of the confrontation remains uncertain. What is clear is that the US-Iran conflict now includes a personal clash between two leaders loath to compromise, despite the asymmetry of power between them.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.