Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, called via the Telegram app on Muslim countries, particularly those in the Persian Gulf region, to unite and cooperate on defense matters.

On the occasion of Islamic Unity Week, he noted that internal divisions among Muslims serve only the interests of their adversaries, pointing to the Palestinians' powerlessness as a result of a lack of cohesion.

"My emphatic and repeated recommendation to the rulers of Islamic countries, especially the countries of West Asia and the Gulf, is to identify your real enemy, understand his plan and confront it", he remarked.

Khamenei has not appeared in public for six months, since he was injured in US-Israeli airstrikes. Those strikes triggered a war in Iran and resulted in the death of his father, Ali Khamenei.

The appeal to Arab monarchies comes at a time of heightened tensions, as Tehran has also attacked US military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries as part of the conflict. Regional states have long regarded Iran's revolutionary ideology and its influence as a direct threat to their stability.

(Reuters, max)