After the September 11 attacks , Khamenei condemned the act and the attackers and called for a condemnation of terrorist activities all over the world , but warned strongly against a military intervention in Afghanistan . He is quoted as saying , " Mass killings of human beings are catastrophic acts which are condemned wherever they may happen and whoever the perpetrators and the victims may be . " Khamenei is an opponent of the State of Israel and Zionism , and has been criticized for anti-Semitic rhetoric and for making threats against Israel . On 15 December 2000 , Khamenei called Israel a " cancerous tumor of a state " that " should be removed from the region " and in 2013 called Israel a " rabid dog " , as well as in 2014 during the Gaza war , for what he called attacking innocent people . In 2014 , a tweet from an account attributed to Khamenei , claimed that there was no cure for Israel but its annihilation
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Ali Khamenei