Khamenei defends strikes on Israel in rare public speech

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a rare appearance, is currently delivering a sermon at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla Mosque, BBC reports.

In his first part of speech, which he delivered in Persian, he emphasised the “unity” of Muslims around the world based on the principles of the Islamic holy book, Quran.

He said Iran’s enemy is the same as the enemy of a Palestinian state, Lebanon and other Muslim nations.

He defended his country's missile attack on Israel earlier this week as a "minimum punishment."

Israeli strikes in Lebanon intensified overnight, as the military told people in more than 30 villages in the south to immediately evacuate and head north.

A major road out of Lebanon was hit - video shows a large crater near the border crossing into Syria, where thousands of people have been fleeing.

Officials tell US media a key target of the overnight bombing was Hezbollah's next potential leader Hashem Safieddine. His condition is unknown.

Lebanon's health ministry says 37 people have been killed in Israeli ground and air attacks in the past 24 hours; more than 2,000 people have now been killed since last October.

Khamenei formally holds the title of Tehran Friday prayer leader, but usually assigns the sermons to a rotating cast of subordinates.

Iranian media reported that he will deliver a part of his speech in Arabic, addressing Lebanese and Palestinians.

The leader's sermons come three days before the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered the current regional war.

It also comes three days after Iran launched a missile barrage against Israel in retaliation for the killings of Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) commander Abbas Nilforoushan, as well as that of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

The last time Khamenei delivered his Friday prayer was shortly after Iranian General Qasem Soleimani died in a US drone attack near Baghdad's airport in 2020 and subsequent Iran's attack on US military bases in Iraq. The last time before that was in 2012.