Iranian Ayatollah Praises Antisemitic College Protests

Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised American college and university students who disrupted campus life with pro-Palestinian protests and claimed that the Jews control U.S. and European media.

In an open letter to U.S. students, Iran's supreme leader said they have "now formed a branch of the Resistance Front," referring to the loose coalition of Iranian-backed terror groups operating in the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, and the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza.

The letter, which was dated May 25, was published in full on Khamenei's English-language website on Thursday and shared in multiple posts on the social media platform X on Wednesday.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have roiled college campuses nationwide in recent months, with students building encampments and clashing, sometimes violently, with law enforcement when they failed to disperse. More than 2,000 protestors were arrested across the country for failing to leave when directed to by university administrators.

While student demands varied from campus to campus, the overarching message from protestors was condemnation for Israel as it continues its war against Hamas in Gaza following the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state.

"The greater Resistance Front which shares the same understandings and feelings that you have today, has been engaged in the same struggle for many years in a place far from you," Khamenei said in his letter. "The goal of this struggle is to put an end to the blatant oppression that the brutal Zionist terrorist network has inflicted on the Palestinian nation for many years."

The ayatollah noted that in addition to college students in the U.S., "there have also been uprisings in other countries among academics and the general public."

"The support and solidarity of your professors is a significant and consequential development," he said. "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."

He also denounced the "global Zionist elite" for calling the Palestinian response "terrorism" and accused it of owning or influencing "most US and European media corporations" through "funding and bribery."

Khamenei closed his message to American students with advice to "become familiar with the Quran," saying the holy book for Muslims teaches "Do not oppress and do not be oppressed."

Israel declared war on Hamas on Oct. 7 after the Palestinian militant group's brutal attack on the Jewish state that resulted in 1,200 dead and more than 200 taken back to Gaza as hostages.

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