Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called upon the Muslim nations to "fasten the seatbelt" of resistance as tension remains on boil in the Middle East. He made the remark during a sermon after the Friday prayers, for the first time in five years, in Tehran's Grand Mosalla Mosque amid a huge sea of worshippers who brought photograph of Khamenei placed side by side with a picture of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on the main stage.
Hezbollah's green and yellow flag along with Palestinian flag were also seen in the crowd.
In the first part of his speech, delivered in Persian, Khamenei pressed on the "unity" of Muslims around the world based on the principles of Quran. He said that Iran's enemy is the same as the enemy of a Palestinian state, Lebanon and other Muslim nations.
“The policies adopted by our enemy is to sow the seeds of division and sedition, to drive a wedge among all the Muslims. They are the same enemies to the Palestinians, Lebanese, Egyptians, and the Iraqis. They are the enemy to the Yemeni and Syrian people,” Khamenei said.
He praised Iran's Tuesday attack on Israel calling it completely "legal" adding that what they did was the "minimum punishment” for Israel against their “astonishing crimes”.
The Supreme Leader, who kept a rifle by his side during the addresss, dubbed Israel as a "vampire" regime and the US a "rabid dog" in the region. He vowed that the Islamic Republic will carry out "any related duties” against Israel with “strength and fortitude”.
During his speech, Khamenei stressed twice that Iran will not “hesitate” nor “procrastinate” when it comes to Israel. He said that every country has the right to defend itself from aggressors and said the Muslim nations have to prepare their “defence against the common enemy”.
“Each and every country, each and every people have the ultimate right to defend themselves against the ultimate tyranny,” he said, three days ahead of the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered a larger war in Gaza.
Delivering the later part of his speech in Arabic, Khamenei spoke on behalf of Palestine saying the people there "have a lawful right to defend themselves."
"To stand up to those criminals – the occupation forces. There is not a single court or international organisation that can blame the Palestinian people for simply defending their homeland,” he added.