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The clerical regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei marked the anniversary of the November 4, 1979, seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by insisting that hostility between the regime and the United States is “intrinsic” and cannot be resolved through negotiation. In a rare public appearance on November 3, 2025, Khamenei praised the hostage-taking as a “day of victory and pride” and reiterated that any future cooperation with Washington would only be “considerable in a distant future” and only if the United States completely withdraws its military presence from the Middle East and ends support for Israel.
The remarks came as former senior regime insiders openly question the value and legacy of the embassy seizure, and at a moment when Khamenei’s visibility has sharply declined—he now surfaces primarily to reassure a political and security base shaken by strategic setbacks and deepening internal disputes.
Khamenei’s Defiant Speech Exposes a Regime Gripped by Fear, Denial, and Collapsehttps://t.co/WJhzuX2RlK
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 20, 2025
A Rare Appearance to Reinforce Ideological Lines
During his speech in Tehran, Khamenei told an audience of handpicked students: “The conflict between the Islamic Republic and the United States is intrinsic.”
He dismissed recent U.S. messaging around possible diplomacy, framing all proposals as disguised demands for Iranian “surrender.” He said Donald Trump had merely made explicit what earlier U.S. presidents supposedly concealed: “This president said it openly and revealed America’s true face.”
Khamenei also defended the embassy seizure itself, saying the students who stormed the U.S. mission had “reason and argument,” and that the act revealed the “true identity” of the Islamic Revolution. He insisted the event must remain “in our national memory.”
The embassy was seized on November 4, 1979, and 52 American diplomats and staff were held for 444 days, leading to the severing of Iran–U.S. diplomatic relations that continue today.
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— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 25, 2025
Attempt to Anchor Today’s Policy in the 1953 Coup
Khamenei again traced the roots of hostility to the August 19, 1953, overthrow of Iran’s then Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, calling it the moment Iranians “recognized America’s arrogant nature.”
However, that narrative obscures a core historical contradiction inside the regime’s own ideological lineage. The regime’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, had no affinity for Mossadegh’s nationalist government. Khomeini was aligned with Abol-Ghasem Kashani—one of the clerical figures who supported the coup against Mossadegh. Khomeini himself expressed reservations about Mossadegh’s political direction at the time.
By presenting the regime as the heir to Dr. Mossadegh’s anti-imperial legacy, Khamenei’s argument sidesteps the reality that the ruling clerical establishment historically stood outside—and often against— Dr. Mossadegh’s movement. The speech’s historical framing therefore functions less as analysis than as an effort to reinforce revolutionary identity under pressure.
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— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 23, 2025
Conditions Designed to Reject Diplomacy
Khamenei said Iran would only consider any U.S. request for cooperation if Washington:
- Ends all support for Israel.
- Removes all U.S. military bases from the region.
- Ceases all involvement in regional affairs.
These conditions, explicitly set in the future and not “in the near term,” amount to a categorical rejection of diplomacy.
Tehran’s officials have acknowledged that indirect messaging continues. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that “messages are exchanged through intermediaries,” though he denied the existence of formal negotiations.
#Iran's Economic Strain and Unrest Fears Drive Khamenei’s Push for Narrative Controlhttps://t.co/F51d8EVrf4
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 8, 2025
Open Internal Dissent
The regime’s narrative surrounding the embassy takeover is no longer uniform. Former senior officials now openly challenge the mythologized version of the event. On November 2, former deputy parliament speaker Ali Motahari wrote that the takeover was “hasty and influenced by leftist currents” and that: “444 days of hostage-taking disfigured the image of the Islamic Revolution in the world.”
He argued the action ultimately benefited Washington and harmed Iran.
In mid-October, Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri—once a member of the regime’s top arbitration body—called the seizure a “big mistake” and said “many of the country’s problems” began from that point.
The criticism directly undercuts Khamenei’s claim that the event constitutes the revolution’s “identity.”
#Khamenei Rejects U.S. Talks, Backs Pezeshkian as Regime Faces Deepening Splitshttps://t.co/ZhUHUfNCG6
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) August 24, 2025
A Leader Appearing Only to Reassure a Shaken Base
Khamenei’s limited visibility in recent months has been notable. He now tends to appear only during symbolic anniversaries or moral-ideological interventions. The timing of this speech matches that pattern.
His public presence is aimed not at ordinary Iranians—who face inflation, unemployment, and severe economic pressure—but at keeping regime loyalists aligned. The base has been shaken by:
- Strategic setbacks in the region, including recent conflicts that damaged Iranian-linked facilities.
- Growing policy disputes inside the elite.
- Public criticism from establishment figures once considered loyal.
- The strain of long-term sanctions and a stalled economy.
Khamenei urged the state, military, and universities to “become stronger,” arguing that only power, not negotiation, guarantees security.
“If the country becomes strong, the enemy will not dare confront it.”
By calling the conflict with the United States permanent and by tying Iran’s political identity to the 1979 hostage-taking, Khamenei signals a continued refusal to adjust strategy—even as Iran faces financial strain, diplomatic isolation, and eroding internal cohesion.