Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, surprised this Friday by giving a rare speech at a mosque in central Tehran to justify this week’s attacks against Israel.
Khamenei began by emphasizing the “unity” of Muslims around the world, based on the principles of the Islamic holy book, the Quran.
He then assured that the enemy of Iran is the same as the enemy of the Palestinian State, Lebanon and other Muslim nations.
His appearance is unusual because normally Friday prayer sermons in Iran are assigned to a rotating group of subordinates and Khamenei has not given one since 2020, after the death of General Qasem Soleimani at the hands of the US.
The speech comes three days after Iran launched dozens of missiles at Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon.
It also comes three days before the one-year anniversary of Hamas attacks on Israel, October 7, 2023which triggered the current regional war.
“Minimal punishment”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who has been the country’s supreme leader since 1989 – assured that Iran’s attack against Israel carried out last Tuesday (October 1) was “completely legal”, “correct” and “logical”.
He also indicated that what they did was the “minimum punishment” for Israel for its “amazing crimes” and that the Islamic Republic will fulfill “any related duties” against Israel with “force.”
He twice emphasized that Iran will not “waver” when it comes to Israel, a country he said “won’t last long.”
Furthermore, he condemned Israel as a “vampire” regime and referred to the Israelis’ main ally, the United States, as a “mad dog.”
The Farsi-speaking supreme leader delivered part of his speech in Arabic to address his Palestinian and Lebanese supporters.
Khamenei dismissed any suggestion that Iran’s support for its proxies in the region, which it calls the “axis of resistance”would be affected by Israel’s recent operations.
Likewise, he praised Nasrallah, former leader of Hezbollah, and expressed his support for this group and Hamas, which according to him provide “a vital service to the entire region and the entire Islamic world.”
Iran is the main supporter of Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as other Middle Eastern armed groups that have attacked Israel.
In recent weeks, several senior leaders of Iranian-backed groups and Iran’s powerful military wing, the Revolutionary Guard, have been killed in Israeli attacks or suspected Israeli assassinations.
The last time Khamenei had said his Friday prayer was shortly after the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani (commander of the intelligence division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard) was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in 2020. Before that, the last time was in 2012.
The sermon was also an attempt to project unity, since the newly elected president was present Masoud Pezeshkian and other important figures in the Iranian establishment.
Pezeshkian recently came under fire from hardliners for suggesting that Iran and Israel could end hostilities at some point.
Khamenei told the crowd that Iran will retaliate if Israel launches a response to Tuesday’s missile attack.
“If we had to do it again, we would do it again in the future,” Khamenei told his supporters.
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