TEHRAN -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Friday the unipolar world order in which one or two states impose their will on other countries is no longer accepted.
“The political map of the world is changing,” Ayatollah Khamenei told Iranian officials and guests of the 36th International Islamic Unity Conference here.
The issue of being in a unipolar world where “one or two countries forcing other states and nations has lost its legitimacy,” he said, adding, “Nations have been awakened. The unipolar world order is no longer accepted and is gradually losing its legitimacy.”
In a unipolar system, he maintained, arrogant powers such as the U.S., would design their own schemes and dictate them to other countries such as Iraq, Syria, Iran, or Lebanon.
The people of the world are awakening to the truth of those powers and are opposed to one or two states bullying others into obedience, the Leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei also said Islamic unity means being united in safeguarding the interests of the Islamic Ummah across the world.
“Unity means being united in protecting the interests of the Islamic Ummah,” he said.
It also does not mean geographical unity, he maintained, as some Arab countries tried to get united in the 1960s and 1970s. “This is impossible.”
“We should first detect the interests of the Muslim Ummah. Then, nations should come to an agreement on that and see what the Ummah needs at the time; they should see to whom they should be foes, and with whom friends, and how they should engage in friendship.”
Unity means implementing “joint actions against the plots of the Arrogance,” he added.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic

Ummah can attain a “high position” in the new world which is gradually being shaped, adding it can become a “role model” and a “pioneer”.
However, he continued, the only condition for realizing this is to have unity and overcome the temptations of enemies, especially the U.S. and the occupying regime of Israel.
“Unity among Islamic nations is possible but it needs efforts,” the Leader said, adding, most hope on this issue is pinned on elites and thinkers of the Muslim world as they can guide the public opinion toward the issue.
“If the public opinion is formed in a country, the administrative policies of that country will forcibly move in that direction.”
Ayatollah Khamenei called the normalization of relations between some Islamic countries and the Zionist regime as “one of the biggest betrayals”.

‘Iran Stood Against Two World Powers’

Ayatollah Khamenei went on to note that the Islamic Republic stood against two major powers of the time, namely the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
“The powers had differences in tens of issues but they were united in one thing: opposing the Islamic Republic,” he said, adding, “They imagined that they could uproot this seedling but this seedling has now turned into a mighty tree.”
“They are damn wrong in thinking that they can uproot it,” he said.
Further expanding on unity, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that differences in religious schools of thought, i.e. Sunni or Shia, should not lead to strife or discord among people, noting that American and British politicians, who are anti-Islam and are neither good towards Shias nor towards Sunnis “have brought the ‘Shia-Sunni’ debates into their circles, and this matter is really dangerous.”
“I spoke once about the British Shia and the American Sunni…Some through lies interpreted my words claiming that what is meant by the English Shia is the Shias residing in Britain,” the Leader said, explaining that “a British Shia can be living inside the Islamic world”.
“What I mean is being inspired by Britain; a Shia troublemaker or a Sunni troublemaker, such as Daesh, Wahhabis and the like who cause trouble. Or such as takfiris; they are called Muslims and they might be practicing Muslims too in terms of Individual Islamic rules; however, in practice they serve the enemy. It does not matter where those who cause discord in such a manner that benefits the enemies stand, or what rank they have or in which country they are present. This is something we profoundly believe in,” the Leader elaborated.
Ayatollah Khamenei said, “We show serious attitude towards those who claim to be supporters of Shia thought and try to provoke our Sunni brothers and deal with them. This (accountability) should prevail. There should be a consensus on this matter. Of course, there are extremist individuals on both sides. There are individuals among the Shias who are extremists because of their beliefs or other reason, just like there are also extremist individuals among the Sunnis; extremism exists (on both sides).”