The US and Israel “will definitely receive a crushing response”, Iran’s supreme leader has said, following an Israeli attack on Iran a week ago.
The Iranian attack came in response to the killings of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas – Iranian-backed armed groups fighting Israel – and a senior Iranian commander.
Khamenei said Iran’s enemies, including Israel and the US, “will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran, the Iranian people, and the resistance front”.
Israel sees Iran as the crucial backer of the Hamas attacks which killed about 1,200 people on 7 October last year.
Israeli authorities say more than 60 people have been killed by Hezbollah rocket, drone, and missile attacks in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
Iran’s supreme leader has stated that the US and Israel “will definitely receive a crushing response” in the wake of an Israeli attack on Iran one week ago.
The remarks came from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was addressing students on Saturday in advance of the 45th anniversary of the US embassy’s 1979 takeover in Tehran.
The threat comes as Iran considers how and whether to react to Israel’s attack last month, which it claims killed four soldiers and was retaliatory for an earlier October Iranian missile attack against Israel.
The leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, two armed groups supported by Iran that are fighting Israel, as well as a senior Iranian commander were killed, prompting the Iranian attack.
Israel and the United States are among Iran’s adversaries, and Khamenei stated that they “will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran, the Iranian people, and the resistance front.”.
The so-called “axis of resistance” of Iran is a coalition of organizations supported by Tehran, which includes well-armed groups in Iraq and Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza. Certain states in the West have classified the majority as terrorist organizations.
While Iran has not acknowledged it, Israel is believed to have seriously damaged Iranian missile and air defense capabilities in its October 26 attack.
Iran is viewed by Israel as a key supporter of the Hamas attacks that killed roughly 1,200 people on October 7 of last year.
Additionally, over 250 were captured and taken to the Gaza Strip as hostages.
Since then, Israel has carried out a massive operation in Gaza, killing over 43,300 people, according to the health ministry run by Hamas in the territory.
In September, following nearly a year of cross-border fighting and rocket fire, Israel also launched an offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Hezbollah had launched in support of Palestinians the day after the Hamas attacks.
Tens of thousands of people from northern Israel who were displaced by the fighting were to return safely, Israel stated.
Since then, Lebanese authorities have reported that more than 2,800 people have been killed and that 1.2 million more have been displaced.
Hezbollah rocket, drone, and missile attacks in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights have killed over 60 people, according to Israeli authorities.
Since Iranian demonstrators captured over fifty US diplomats and embassy employees on November 4, 1979, leading to a 444-day hostage crisis, relations between the US and Iran have not been adequately stabilized.
