Khamenei says Iran's allies 'will not back down' after Israel attacks

TEHRAN

Demonstrators hold Iranian, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags and a poster of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a rally commemorating slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo)

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Friday that Tehran-aligned armed groups "will not back down" even after a spate of Israeli killings of militant leaders.

"The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms and will win," said Khamenei in a rare Friday sermon in Tehran, which was mostly delivered in Arabic.

Khamenei had a rifle by his side as he addressed worshippers, days after Iran's missile attack on Israel.

Khamenei delivered the sermon—his first in nearly five years—to thousands of worshippers carrying portraits of slain leaders of Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel and the United States.

He praised Iran-backed armed groups Hezbollah and Hamas, which both fight Israel and operate in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, respectively, and defended Iran's missile attack on Israel as "legal and legitimate."

"The operation of our armed forces a few nights ago was totally legal and legitimate," Khamanei said.

 Thousands of Iranians were gathered in the capital Tehran to catch a glimpse of the leader, with a photograph of Khamenei placed side by side with a picture of Nasrallah on the main stage.

Some carried the green and yellow flag of Hezbollah, while others carried the Palestinian flag.

Khamenei's remarks came as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it shelled Israeli troops in a border area of south Lebanon, in the latest such clash on the frontier.

The Iran-backed group said its fighters targeted "Israeli enemy troops in the Maroun al-Ras plain with artillery."

In Lebanon, a source close to Hezbollah said Nasrallah had been given a temporary burial in a secret location until a public funeral could be held.