Iran’s top commander boasts that war efforts prove Islam can ‘rule the world’

A top Iranian commander boasted Saturday that Tehran’s battlefield performance in the ongoing war with the United States proved that Islam leads the world.

Iran’s war efforts over the last six months, which included lobbing missiles at US bases and allied infrastructure in the Gulf region, showed that “Islam can be made to rule the world,” Ahmad Vahidi, who heads the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, urged in a message published Saturday.

Vahidi applauded the IRGC – and army, police and Basij military forces – for bringing the US, “the most heavily armed army in the history of the world to its knees.”

A pro-government supporter holds an AK-45 rifle during a military parade in downtown Tehran, Iran on April 17, 2026. NurPhoto via Getty Images

He also said Iran had “opened the gates of uprising for the oppressed of the world,” although many of Iran’s attacks have come against neighboring Islamic countries that house US military facilities.

The US maintains a naval armada around the vital Strait of Hormuz, has wiped out much of Iran’s navy and many of Iran’s missiles and launchers, according to US intelligence.

US and Israeli strikes at the beginning of the war took out much of Iran’s political leadership, although the regime remains intact.

Negotiations to end the war have repeatedly stalled.