On June 12, the Iranian regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei spoke at the so-called Congress of Martyrs of the Nomadic Community however his remarks were published with a nine-day delay on June 21.

In his speech, Khamenei warned that “the enemy” “relies on soft war”, the term that Khamenei uses to express his fear of political and ideological defeats.

“Today, we need cultural work more than anything else in all parts of the Iranian nation, including the nomads. The enemy of the Iranian nation, the enemy of Islam relies on soft war today. Foreigners tried to infiltrate the nomads and force them to betray their country in various ways; like disintegration, civil war, and all sorts of things, he said.

Highlighting the weakening of “religious beliefs” of people as “the most important target of the soft war” reveals his concern about growing discontent among the ranks of his regime.

In other parts of his speeches, he said that the ‘enemies’ are doing anything to show the regime is incompetent and that is facing a dead-end without any bright future in sight.

Khamenei’s remarks can be considered as admission to the growing hatred that his regime is facing with members of its inner circles losing hope for any change of course. This can be seen in direct attacks amongst the regime’s own ranks on Ebrahim Raisi who had installed to suppress the public expression of any discontent.

Khamenei knows well that the increase in frequency and magnitude of public protests in recent weeks with chants of “Death to Raisi” will eventually lead to a change of the slogans to “Death to Khamenei”.

The delay in publishing the speech of the mullahs’ Supreme Leader reveals that Khamenei has been left with tough choices. If he talks his remarks will further reveal his setbacks while his silence will pave the way for more anti-government protests in which he will be the target of chants from the angry population that is yearning for freedom from the rule of mullahs.