Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday delivered a rare prayer sermon in Tehran, where he defended Hamas' and Iran's attacks on Israel as "legal and legitimate".
During the sermon attended by thousands at a mosque in Tehran, Khamenei claimed that the US and its allies were preserving Israel's security to make it an energy exporting gate from the region to the West, and declared that the resistance against the Zionist force would not back down.
Here are the top quotes from Khamenei's address- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that last year's Hamas attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, was "logical and legal". "The Al-Aqsa Flood attacks that took place around this time last year were a logical and legal international move and the Palestinians were right," Khamenei said.
- Khamenei added that Iran would not "procrastinate or rush to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel.
- Khamenei also vowed to keep the struggle against Israel in Middle East and said, "The resistance in the region will not back down."
- Iran's supremo assured that Israel cannot seriously harm Hezbollah or Hamas and went on to claim that the "Zionist nation would not last long."
- During the sermon, the Supreme Leader also called for an alliance between the Islamic state and said, "Muslim nations have to strap the belt of defense from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon," he added.
- "The enemy of Iran is the enemy of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, and Iraq. The enemy is the same and works everywhere with a special method, but the control room is the same," he stated.
- "Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah is no longer among us physically, but his path and his resonant voice are and will continue to be with us. He was the articulate voice and brave supporter of the oppressed," said Khamenei as Nasrallah was laid to rest in an undisclosed location following his death in an Israeli airstrike last week.
- "Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah brought assurance and courage to the fighters and seekers of truth. The scope of his popularity and influence extended beyond Lebanon, Iran, and Arab countries, and now his martyrdom will increase his influence even more," he said. Khamenei added that the "exuberant youth of Hezbollah" should fulfil the wishes of "martyred" Nasrallah.
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