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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday declared that the Resistance – name for its regional proxies – wouldn’t back down and Israel wouldn’t win over Hezbollah and Hamas in his first Friday sermon in five years. As thousands gathered outside the Grand Mosque in capital Tehran, Khamenei said that the Islamic Republic’s missile attack on Israel days ago was “legal and legitimate” as was Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel, adding it was the minimum punishment for Tel Aviv’s “crimes”.
“The resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders,” Khamenei said in the rare appearance, hours after reports that an Israeli attack on Beirut targeted Hashem Safieddine, widely held as the successor to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.
Khamenei also warned that Iran would attack “occupied Palestine”, referring to Israel, if it was provoked. He stated that Iran had a right to defend itself and that it would respond to any attacks from the Jewish nation. He also backed the Lebanese group Hezbollah’s move to target Israel, asserting that Iran and its allies would together defeat its “enemies”.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a commemoration ceremony of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, in Tehran, Iran, on Friday. (Handout via REUTERS)
“The Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, 2023, was a correct move. Palestinians had the right to do this. Our right to strike at the Zionist entity several days ago was totally legitimate. Hamas is fighting for the rights of Palestinian Muslims. Hezbollah is also fighting against Israel,” he told thousands of people gathered at the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran.
Khamenei said Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s influence will only increase in the region despite Israel killing him in an airstrike on the Iran-backed group’s headquarters in Beirut on September 27.
Nasrallah’s photo was put up on the stage where Khamenei spoke and banners of him and Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who died in a US drone strike in 2020, were also displayed by thousands of people at the mosque.
Praising Nasrallah, Khamenei said while he was no longer alive, his path “would continue to inspire us forever”.
“Nasrallah was an admired personality in the world and an outspoken voice of nations in the region. He was the voice and brave supporter of the oppressed. His popularity and influence extended beyond Lebanon, Iran and Arab countries. Now with his martyrdom, his influence will grow even further,” he said.
The Supreme Leader called for Muslim unity, urging all Muslim-majority nations to come together and defeat “our common enemy”. He underlined that the ‘Axis of Resistance’, a network of Iranian-backed militia groups that is hostile towards Israel and the US.
Khamenei said Muslims were attacked in Palestine and Lebanon by Israel and stated that Iran had attacked the Jewish nation with over 180 ballistic missiles.
He accused the US of taking control of regional resources with the help of Israel, saying Washington was using the Jewish nation as a “tool”.
“The Americans and the Zionist entity are dreaming. The Zionist entity will be uprooted from the ground as it is fake. It only exists because of support from Americans. The roots of the Zionist entity are fake and unstable,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei’s sermon came three days before the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war, which was triggered by the Palestinian group’s attack on the Jewish nation on October 7.
Tensions have escalated dramatically in the Middle East after Iran’s missile barrage on Israel earlier this week and the killing of Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike. A risk of a full-blown war remains if Israel retaliates to Iran’s attack, which could mark another round of confrontation with Tehran.