After five years, Iranian Ayatollah Khamenei leads an extraordinary public prayer

“The operation of our armed forces a few days ago was completely legal and legitimate,” Khamenei commented on the fact that Iran fired hundreds of missiles at Israel on Tuesday. According to Tehran, it was retaliation for the killing of Nasrallah alongside one of the commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Beirut in September and for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniji in Tehran in July.

Khamenei added that Iran will not “delay or rush its duty” to confront Israel again. He also called for the unity of Muslims in the world, saying that Iranians have the same enemy as other Muslim nations.

Khamenei leads a prayer in a large mosque in the center of Tehran. This is happening, among other things, three days before the first anniversary of the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which was triggered by an attack by Palestinian terrorists supported by Iran on October 7, the Times of Israel (ToI) website noted.

Khamenei last led Friday prayers in January 2020 after Iran fired missiles at a US military base in Iraq in response to a strike that killed respected Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani.

At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakci flew to Lebanon on Friday, the AFP agency reported with reference to the local media, saying that this is the first visit of a high-ranking Iranian official since the killing of Nasrallah. She did not specify what his program is.

Meanwhile, Israel continues not only the ground operation in the south of Lebanon with the aim of pushing Hezbollah away from the borders, but also the shelling of targets associated with this movement in Beirut and other places. The target of another strike on the night of Friday was Nasrallah’s cousin and presumed successor Hášim Safíjuddin, The New York Times website reported with reference to its sources. At the same time, it is not clear whether the attacks hit him.

Meanwhile, various states continue to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon. On Friday morning, Slovakia sent a military plane to the country, which will transport citizens of other countries, including Czechs, in addition to Slovaks. According to earlier information from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 people heading to the Czech Republic expressed interest in the Slovak evacuation flight.