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The Supreme Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, hailed American college students who have protested the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, applauding that they were “standing on the right side of history.”
“Dear university students in the United States of America, you are standing on the right side of history,” Khamenei wrote in a X post.
The post was part of a lengthy letter the Supreme Leader penned to American college students, praising them for their anti-Israel protests.
“You have now formed a branch of the Resistance Front and have begun an honorable struggle in the face of your government’s ruthless pressure – a government which openly supports the usurper and brutal Zionist regime,” he wrote in the letter.
Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the media during the voting of Parliament Elections in Tehran, Iran on May 10, 2024. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The supreme leader claimed that America and Britain “imported” terrorists into the region after the World Wars.
“After the World War, the capitalist Zionist network gradually imported several thousand terrorists into this land with the help of the British government,” Khamenei wrote. “These terrorists attacked cities and villages, murdered tens of thousands of people and pushed out multitudes into neighboring countries. They seized their homes, businesses and farmlands, formed a government in the usurped land of Palestine and called it Israel.”
He said that the “global Zionist elite” have labeled the “courageous, humane resistance” on college campuses as “terrorism.”
The global Zionist elite – who owns most US and European media corporations or influences them through funding and bribery – has labeled this courageous, humane resistance movement as ‘terrorism‘.”
Pro-Palestine protesters demonstrate along NYPD police lines outside of Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Multiple students were arrested as officers cleared an encampment on the campus’ lawn. (Peter Gerber for Fox News Digital)
Khamenei also applauded professors and staff at American universities who were participating in the anti-Israel protests while saying that he “empathizes” with students for their “perseverance” against the police and the U.S. government.
“The support and solidarity of your professors is a significant and consequential development,” he wrote. “This can offer some measure of comfort in the face of your government’s police brutality and the pressures it is exerting on you. I too, am among those who empathize with you young people, and value your perseverance.”
Anti-Israel students at Columbia University set up a campsite on the school’s West Lawn, where they placed tents and demanded administrators divest from Israel and take other steps in support of Hamas’ war on the country. (Micheal Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
Iran’s supreme leader’s comments came after pro-Palestine protests erupted across U.S. college campuses in April 2024, as part of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The escalation began after mass arrests at Columbia University at a campus encampment center.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
She is a native of Massachusetts and is based in Orlando, Florida.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to sarah.rumpf@fox.com and on X: @s_rumpfwhitten.
