Iran’s top leader has praised the nation’s recent missile strike against Israel and declared that it is prepared to carry out the action once more if needed.
According to state TV, Iran’s supreme leader praised the nation’s recent missile strike on Israel and declared that it was prepared to carry out the action again if needed.
In his first Friday prayers address as the head of state in about five years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei referred to the missile strike as a “shining” effort by Iran’s armed forces.
Iran fired at least 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the most recent in a string of swiftly intensifying strikes between Israel and Iran and its supporters that raises the possibility of a regional conflict in the Middle East. Israel claimed to have intercepted a large number of the missiles, while Washington claimed that American destroyers helped protect Israel.
Most of Iran’s missiles, it claimed, found their objectives. There were no reports right away.
In a 40-minute lecture to hundreds of worshippers at Tehran’s main mosque, the Mosalla, Khamenei, 85, claimed that the onslaught on southern Israel, spearheaded by Hamas, almost a year ago on October 7, 2023, was a righteous move by the Palestinian people.
He claimed that the country’s legal system, Islamic principles, and international law all guided Tuesday’s missile barrage.
He saluted those who had lost their lives in battle and asked allies “from Afghanistan to Yemen and from Iran to Gaza and Yemen” to be prepared to act against the enemy.
“These martyrdoms and the blood that was shed shouldn’t shake your determination but rather make you more persistent,” he remarked, addressing the people who were resisting in Palestine and Lebanon. “You brave fighters, you loyal and patient people.”
Speaking to Arab nations, Khamenei spoke in Arabic for the first part of his speech.
Following the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020, he made his final appearance at Friday prayers.
Prior to Khamenei’s speech, there was a memorial service for Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The ceremony was attended by the majority of senior Iranian authorities, including Revolutionary Guard generals and President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran is the primary supporter of Hezbollah, having supplied billions of funds and weaponry to the
