The Persian sermon was filled with claims that the Arabs were inspired by Iran’s 1979 revolution and that the Arab uprisings proved that Iran was the leader of the Islamic world.
The Arabic sermon dispensed with such rhetoric, suggesting that Khamenehi understands the limited role Iran has in the Arab world and realizes that claiming leadership would be offensive to Arabs.
The Arabic sermon appeared to be an effort to gain more influence by building on anti-Americanism. In the Arabic sermon, Khamenehi gave eight pieces of advice to the Arab rebels; four of the eight were variations on the theme of: beware the American threat.
Khamenehi said the Arab uprisings, if successful, would undercut US policies in the region and result in Egypt’s “alliance” with Israel being broken.
The White House said Tehran was in no position to make such comments after crushing its own uprising last year. “It is remarkable that Iran would make a statement given their actions when it came to their people exercising the same rights that people are exercising now in Cairo,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Khamenehi said in Persian: “The clergy should play a role. For example, when people come out of mosques and chant slogans, they should support them. Inshallah, part of the Egyptian army will join the people. The main enemy of the Egyptian army is the Zionist regime and not the people.”
“Today’s events in North Africa, Egypt and Tunisia and some other countries have different meanings for us,” Khamenehi said in Persian. “This is what was always talked about as the occurrence of the Islamic awakening at the time of the Islamic revolution of the great Iranian nation and is showing itself today,” he said.
Khamenehi told the cheering crowds, who chanted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” that the Iranian revolution has been “inspiring [to Arabs] and a model because of its perseverance, stability and its insistence on principles.” All that was missing from the Arabic sermon.
Khamenehi called Mubarak the “servant” of Israel and the United States. “For 30 years, this country [Egypt] has been in the hands of someone who is not seeking freedom and is the enemy of those seeking freedom,” he said.
“Not only he is not anti-Zionist, but he is the companion, colleague, confidant and servant of Zionists. It is a fact that Hosni Mubarak’s servitude to America has been unable to take Egypt one step toward prosperity.”