Iranian Supreme Leader Says Israel Won't Last Long

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a fiery sermon at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in Teheran Friday. He declared among other things that Hamas was justified in launching the October 7th massacre of Israelis and that Israel would never defeat Hamas or Hezbollah and in any case would soon disappear. He also said that the ballistic missile attack on Israel that Iran launched Tuesday evening had been highly successful and fully justified.

“What our armed forces did was the minimum punishment for the crimes of the usurping Zionist regime,” said Khamenei of the ballistic-missile attack. He added that Israel has “only kept itself standing by the injection of American support" and that it “will not last long."

It was the first time he had made a Friday sermon in almost five years and it comes at a time when his leadership is being questioned by many Iranians, including members of his own regime.

“The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win,” Khamenei told the thousands of worshippers assembled at the mosque. “Israel will never defeat Hamas and Hezbollah. He also praised the Houthis in Yemen and other members of the "Axis of resistance" which have fired weapons into Israel over the past year, causing little damage and few casualties. He also urged other regional countries to join in his war against Israel.

The sermon was preceded by a memorial event for slain Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Abbas Nilforoushan, who were both eliminated by the same Israeli airstrike on 27 September.