Iran’s armed forces have issued a defiant statement marking the anniversary of the death of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, vowing to defend the revolution against what they described as U.S. and Israeli aggression and declaring they would fight “to the death.”
The joint statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, carried by state broadcaster IRIB, cited what it called hundreds of crimes by Washington and Tel Aviv, including a strike on a school in Minab that killed more than 170 people.
It said the attacks had “revealed to the world the true face of the false claimants of human rights.”
“The Iranian nation will not retreat in the face of threats and aggression,” the statement read, adding that the armed forces would defend the ideals of the Islamic Revolution “to the death.”
It warned that Washington and Tel Aviv “will have no choice but to surrender before the divine will of the armed forces and the enlightened and aware nation,” and called on Iranians to rally behind national unity.
The anniversary of Khomeini’s death on June 3 coincides with the Khordad 15 uprising of 1963, commemorated annually as a foundational moment of the Islamic Revolution.
This year’s commemoration takes place against the backdrop of an active war, with peace talks between Tehran and Washington suspended after Iran halted negotiations on Monday citing continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon as a violation of ceasefire conditions.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf separately accused Israel of war crimes in Lebanon on Tuesday, saying Washington bore responsibility for the situation.
“Every choice has a price, and the bill comes due,” he wrote on X.
The statement also comes a day after Iran dropped its traditional official invitations for the Khomeini anniversary ceremony, with no ministers, lawmakers or military commanders formally invited, in what analysts described as a sign of the extraordinary conditions the Islamic Republic currently finds itself navigating.
