Iran’s Supreme Leader Taunts Trump’s Pitch for Widening the Abraham Accords, Chanting ‘Death to America and Israel’

As President Trump calls on all Muslims to join the Abraham Accords, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Mujtaba Khamenei, is issuing a familiar counterproposal: “Death to America and Israel.” Is peace with Iran possible? Mr. Trump’s call on regional leaders to make formal peace with Israel seems unrealistic. Similarly, Iran’s neighbors rely too much on Washington — and in some cases on Jerusalem — to heed Ayatollah Khamenei’s call to unite Muslims behind the destruction of Israel and America.Both Washington and Tehran are putting down markers, declaring their vision of a future Mideast. Competing visions point to the difficulty of ending the Iran war in an agreement. A pact would satisfy neither side, and even if acceptable to both, it is likely to be short-lived at best. Asking the leaders of Israel-hating countries to join the Abraham Accords is “a joke,” the founder of Middle East Media Research, Yigal Carmon, told The New York Sun. “The question is, does Trump know it’s a joke, and I think he does. He is exposing these countries. A satisfactory deal with Iran is unlikely, so he tells Arab and Muslim states that if they want peace, they must make it a regionwide peace. In the meantime, he is not rushing to renew the war as he strangles Iran economically instead.” American jets struck missile launchers at Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Monday in “self defense,” the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. It was the first American operation on Iranian soil since the April 8 ceasefire. Forces also struck Iranian boats as they tried to drop sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The Hormuz Strait will “one way or the other” be opened to free shipping for all, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday, speaking to reporters aboard a plane back from a trip to India. An agreement to end the war with Iran “will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all,” Mr. Trump warned on TruthSocial. Iran’s demands include an end to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, but the chance of a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon is non-existent. Many Israelis name increasingly fatal border hostilities the “ceasefire war.” That term also fits hostilities in the Gulf. While a pact to end the war is endlessly talked about, it remains iffy. Writing in Farsi on X Tuesday, Ayatollah Khamenei — or someone on his behalf — addressed Muslims on the occasion of this week’s pilgrimage to Mecca. After the Hajj, the posting claimed that “death to America and death to Israel will be the common slogan of the Islamic nation and the oppressed of the world, especially the youth, and all Muslim will unite to end Israel and America.”The posting, representing a supposed unified position of Tehran’s top leadership, follows Mr. Trump’s telling Arab and Muslim leaders that it will be “mandatory” for them to formalize relations with Israel. The president initially proposed that idea to Pakistani, Saudi, and other regional leaders in a conference call over the weekend, discussing proposals for a deal to end the war in Iran.The pitch was met with “silence on the line,” Axios reported. Mr. Trump then “joked,” asking the participants if they were “still there.” On Sunday, he wrote on TruthSocial that once America solves a “very complex puzzle” of a deal with Iran, “it should be mandatory that all of these countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.” Making peace with Israel would be nearly impossible for many of the leaders attending the Saturday phone session. In it, they urged Mr. Trump to strike a war-ending deal with Tehran at all costs, but not one that would include an accord with Israel. Iran’s neighbors fear that renewed hostilities in the area would result in retaliation that would cripple their oil-based economies. Yet for several of the region’s countries, animosity to the Jewish state permeates almost any other issue. Qatar-owned Al Jazeera constantly pumps anti-Israel propaganda. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is a top supporter of Hamas. Saudi officials insist that formal relations with the Jewish state can only be established with a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood. Pakistan, the formal intermediary in the Iran war-ending talks, issues passports that are valid for travel anywhere in the world, except Israel. Peace between these countries and Israel is yet to materialize, but so is a war-ending deal with an Islamic Republic that calls for America’s destruction.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Taunts Trump’s Pitch for Widening the Abraham Accords, Chanting ‘Death to America and Israel’

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