Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei each urged Muslim unity against the West.
Both leaders had similar messages on unity within the Islamic world. “We must pay attention to conspiracies seeking to divide on the basis of religion, between Shiites and Sunnis or on an ethnic basis,” said Khamenei according to the AFP. Rouhani declared that “the enemies want to create discord among ethnic groups and a religion…the first step is to be united.”
Khamenei in his speech praised Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, his predecessor and founder of the Islamic Republic, for using the term “the Great Satan” to refer to the United States.
The predominately Shiite Iran has recently found themselves in an improbable partnership with the US and other Western countries over stopping the Islamic State group, which is predominately Sunni.
But Khamenei cautioned against trust of the thawing relations between Iran and the US, suggesting that “in recent events, we have seen that we cannot have confidence in the promises of the oppressors and their declaration during private meetings.” Khamenei in the past has voiced his suspicion of the nuclear deal, according to AFP.
Rouhani has been working to develop a deal that is supposed to be finalized by June 30 with the P5+1–the United States, Russia, China, France, U.K. and Germany–to ease sanctions against Iran in exchange for decreasing their nuclear ambitions. Khamenei has previously expressed doubts on the validity of the negotiations.