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A prominent Shiite organization in Dearborn, Michigan, held a memorial for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over the weekend, honoring him for his "martyrdom" while accusing Americans of being led by Satan.
"We're gathered here today to commemorate the martyrdom of the great leader of our time, Sayyid Ali Hussein Khamenei," said Hassan Salamey, one of the speakers at the memorial held at the Hadi Institute on Sunday, a day after U.S. and Israeli forces executed Khamenei and other top Iranian officials in Operation Epic Fury.
Abraham Lincoln would likely suggest that America is once again a "House Divided."
Be informed, not misled.
Footage of the service went viral after being shared by the nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute.
Dearborn Shiite Mosque Memorial for Khamenei: This Country Was Built by Devil-Worshipers; Statue of Liberty Is Lucifer; Khamenei Was the Great Leader of Our Time, Received Martyrdom After 86 Years of Jihad – We Want Our Children to Grow Up with This Culture pic.twitter.com/PDYfHMi9A4
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 3, 2026
Dearborn Shiite Mosque Memorial for Khamenei: "This Country Was Built by Devil-Worshipers; Statue of Liberty Is Lucifer; Khamenei Was the Great Leader of Our Time, Received Martyrdom After 86 Years of Jihad – We Want Our Children to Grow Up with This Culture."
Salamey, a poet and lawyer, went on to recite poetry accusing the U.S. of being built by "devil-worshipers" on "stolen land" and being controlled by "devil-worshiping Freemasons," with references to the Masonic "one-eyed devil" on the dollar bill.
He also mentioned the so-called "Epstein Class," and explicitly called the Statue of Liberty "Lucifer."
Via the Christian Post:
"We might think this was an attack led by Zionist Jews, but the commander of their mission is the very one who was trying to prove that Adam was not worth prostrating to: Iblis [Satan] is the one behind the scenes, leading their camp; in the shadows, lurking, irking in their symbology, their ideologies, their psychology, their economy, claiming they follow the laws of Moses in Deuteronomy."
"Iblis [Satan] is the hidden commander of today's society."
"Regardless of the stooge we put at the desk of the Oval Office, Republican or Democrats, or even if 1,000 elections come to pass, it is clear that this country was built for and built by the Epstein class and that, just like Palestine, we live on stolen land," he continued.
Salamey's poem claimed America was founded by "devil-worshiping Freemasons" and that Christopher Columbus was "Zionist-minded" and "genocided the natives." He went on to say "the Statue of Liberty is actually Lucifer, demonic bearer holding a torch of light."
The video also showed congregants invoking "the Mahdi," who is considered the "final imam" who will appear to restore justice at the end of the world, according to the eschatology of the Twelver Shia Islam that prevailed among the late Iranian leadership.
Usama Abdulghani, imam at the Hadi Institute, offered both condolences and congratulations to Khamenei for achieving "this ultimate honor" after "86 years of jihad in the way of Allah."
Abdulghani, who in 2024 mourned the deaths of other Islamic radicals and told congregants they "should enjoy [Khamenei] while he is still alive," expressed particular appreciation to the mothers who brought their young children to the memorial, "so that our children will grow up with this culture, where we remember our martyrs and we're not ashamed of them."
Dearborn was not the only memorial
A similar service honoring Khamenei took place in Manassas, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., according to Fox News.
Fox headlines said, "Chasing the apocalypse: Radical Shiite clerics on American soil preach prophetic showdown with US."
And Fox said this: "Fox News Digital investigation shows hardline Shiite ideologues framing conflict between US, Iran as prophecy for the arrival of the Mahdi, or 'messiah'."
Many commenters on X, including some lawmakers, responded to the clip from Dearborn by expressing alarm that Muslims who harbor such beliefs are in the United States.
"This is in Michigan. In the United States," posted Vickie Paladino, a member of the New York City Council.
It's also in Virginia.
At a recent Friday sermon at a local Shiite mosque in northern Virginia, an imam closed prayer with an earnest plea, before war broke out in Iran: "May Allah destroy all the nonbelievers – or kafiroon or munafiqoon," he said, using Arabic words that refer to "nonbelievers" and "hypocrites."
He asked for this victory "before the arrival of Imam Mahdi."
Fox News Digital observed the sermon and also witnessed a special table of honor in the middle of the mosque’s main prayer hall, featuring framed photos of Khamenei embracing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah, also killed by Israel for orchestrating terrorist attacks.
The Friday service at the Manassas Mosque reveals a theological dynamic that Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned about in early February, noting that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s leaders are guided not merely by geopolitics and national security considerations, but by "pure theology."
"We have to understand that Iran ultimately is governed, and its decisions are governed by Shiite clerics — radical Shiite clerics — who make policy decisions on the basis of pure theology," Rubio said.
In its investigation, Fox News Digital conducted a digital analysis of hours of sermons and scores of pages of pro-regime protest slogans, messaging, and social media posts, using large-language models, and found clerics, community leaders, and media platforms in the U.S. framing tensions with Iran in explicitly apocalyptic terms rooted in eschatology, or Islamist end-times theology.
Takeaway
Rubio was right.
Pro-regime mosques, K-12 schools, and local community organizations in the U.S. are "producing messaging that mirrors Tehran’s talking points almost word for word," warned Andrew Ghalili, policy director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran, an advocacy group led by Iranian Americans who oppose the theocratic regime running Iran.
In an upcoming report, "The Ayatollahs’ Influence Network in the United States," reviewed by Fox News Digital, the group's researchers conclude the Islamic Republic of Iran spreads "Tehran's messaging" in a network of institutions it supports in the U.S., for example, pitting Trump as the Dajjal fighting defenders of the Mahdi, like Khamenei and now his successors.
"What we're seeing is years of deliberate investment by the Islamic Republic inside the United States," Ghalili told Fox News Digital.
"This is happening on American soil, and it's just another way in which the regime poses a direct threat to the United States, this time not with missiles but through infiltration," he said.
A gunman just killed three in Austin, Texas, wearing a sweater that said, "PROPERTY OF ALLAH." According to media reports, law enforcement officials found the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran and photos of its leaders in his home.
Days ago, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency repeated the end-times narrative, quoting Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem, claiming the regime is the "government of Imam Mahdi" and its anti-U.S. "resistance is the path to hastening his reappearance."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Not Afraid. Be Prayerful.
