Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said that expectations in Washington and Tel Aviv that Iran’s political system would weaken have failed to materialize.

According to Khamenei, the country has effectively endured three major crises over the past year. The first, he noted, was the June 2025 conflict with Israel, which later drew in the United States. Opponents had anticipated that Iranian society would quickly turn against the authorities, but that scenario did not unfold.

The second challenge came with a wave of protests that broke out between late 2025 and early 2026. Khamenei pointed out that the United States and Israel appeared to рассчитывать on internal economic pressures to push the population toward an uprising. However, these expectations also proved unfounded.

He described the current confrontation as a third war involving the United States and Israel.

Khamenei timed his remarks to coincide with the approach of the Iranian New Year, which begins on March 21. He framed the coming period as a year of a «resistance economy," emphasizing the need for national unity and a strong focus on security.