Washington Benefiting From Ukrainian Conflict as Europe Made to Bear Its Cost: Iran’s Supreme Leader

The European Union narrowly avoided a bloc-wide recession in late 2022 after members’ politicized decision to wean themselves off Russian energy in response to the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine. Moscow expects the real, long-term costs to Europe – the loss of the region’s competitive advantage against the US and China, to come later.

The United States is responsible for the Ukrainian crisis and is benefiting from it while European nations are being made to bear its cost, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said.

“The US started the war in Ukraine. However, this war has caused the US to drift from its European allies, who are actually the ones who are taking the brunt of the war, while the US reaps the benefits of it,” Khamenei said a wide-ranging speech during a meeting with senior officials on Tuesday.

On the global level, the Ukrainian crisis serves to highlight the US’s weakening positions, Khamenei said, pointing to Washington’s failure to bring Latin American countries to heel, failure to create a “united Arab front against Iran,” and failure to pressure the Islamic Republic into submission through sanctions.

At home too, the US is facing a spiraling political crisis, with each successive administration becoming weaker than the last, according to the Iranian leader.

“The US is one of Iran’s most important foes in the world. The facts show that America was weaker under the Obama administration than the Bush administration. The US was weaker under the Trump administration than it was under the Obama administration. The US is weaker under this man’s [Biden’s, ed.] administration than it was under the Trump administration,” Khamenei said.

“Why is it that we say America is weak? First of all, bipolarity emerged in the United States over the elections two-three years ago. This polarization still remains strong; this is a weakness and of paramount significance,” the ayatollah said.

Tuesday’s comments were the second time in two weeks that Khamenei has brought up the Ukrainian crisis in his public remarks. In late March, he said that the US had “created the grounds” for the conflict in Ukraine “to expand NATO in the east,” and reiterated that Washington is the party that benefits most from its continuation. “The poor people of Ukraine are facing problems, while weapons manufacturing companies in the US are reaping the benefits, so they won’t go along with ending the war,” he said.

The Iranian Supreme Leader, whose constitutional role requires him to provide guidance to the government and legislature, and to protect the country from imperialist predations, has been outspoken among Iran’s officials in blaming Washington for the Ukrainian crisis. Immediately after its escalation last year, Khamenei blamed the US “mafia regime” for the conflict, and called Ukraine one of many “victims” of American foreign policy.