Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with a group of school and university students in Tehran, Nov. 3, 2019. Photo: Official Khamenei website / Handout via Reuters / File.

Iran will support any nation or group that fights Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, ahead of this week’s annual observance of Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

“We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this,” Khamenei said in a post on his official English-language Twitter account.

Separately, Khamenei claimed on Wednesday that Iran’s enmity toward Israel was not the same as hostility toward Jewish people.

“The elimination of the government of Israel does not mean the elimination of Jews. We don’t have an issue with Jewish people,” Khamenei said in a post on his official Farsi-language Twitter account.

“‘Elimination of Israel‘ means the Muslim, Christian and Jewish people of #Palestine choose their own government themselves and push out foreigners and thugs like [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” the post added.

Khamenei is scheduled to speak on Friday to mark Quds Day.

Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned Khamenei for previous “disgusting and hateful anti-Semitic remarks.”

And Netanyahu tweeted, referring to a recent Iranian propaganda poster threatening a “Final Solution” to the conflict with Israel, “Khamenei’s threats to carry out ‘The Final Solution’ against Israel bring to mind the Nazi ‘Final Solution’ plan to annihilate the Jewish People. He should know that any regime that threatens the destruction of the State of Israel faces a similar danger.”