The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that Israel “will not last long”, vowing that Tehran and its allies will not back down in their confrontation with the Jewish state.
With a rifle at his side, Khamenei led Friday prayers at the Mosalla Grand mosque in central Tehran and said Israel “cannot seriously harm” Hezbollah and Hamas, two poles of Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’.
The 85-year-old supreme leader switched from speaking Farsi to Arabic when giving remarks about Tehran’s Arabic-speaking allies in Lebanon and Gaza.
Speaking further, Khamenei said that the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel were a “legitimate” act.
He claimed the attacks were justified because they were “logical and legal” and done in self-defence against an oppressor, adding that this principle was recognized under international law.
Khamenei went on to justify Tuesday’s Iranian attack on Israel, in which Tehran bombarded the country with around 180 ballistic missiles.
He said: “The move taken by our armed forces was the least punishment in the face of the crimes of the Zionist regime.”
His comments came the day after Israel targeted Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to slain Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah in a major air strike on southern Beirut.
It is not yet confirmed if Safieddine was killed in the strike.
The Telegraph
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