Khamenei said Iran’s enemies, including Israel and the United States, “will definitely receive a harsh response for what they are doing to Iran, the Iranian people and the resistance front.”
Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” is an alliance of Tehran-backed groups that include Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and well-armed groups in Iraq and Syria. Most of them have been recognized by some Western states as terrorist organizations.
Israel is said to have inflicted heavy damage on Iranian air defenses and missile capabilities in the October 26 attack, although Iran has not acknowledged this.
Israel considers Iran to be the most important supporter of the Hamas attacks, which killed about 1,200 people on October 7 last year.
More than 250 were also taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Israel has launched a major operation in Gaza that has killed more than 43,300 people, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
Israel also went on the offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September, after nearly a year of cross-border fighting and rocket fire that Hezbollah launched in support of the Palestinians the day after the Hamas attacks.
Israel has said it wants to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of northern Israelis displaced by the conflict.
Since then, more than 2,800 people have been killed and 1.2 million displaced in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israeli authorities say more than 60 people have been killed in rocket, drone and rocket attacks by Hezbollah in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
US-Iranian relations have not been properly stabilized since November 4, 1979, when Iranian protesters seized more than 50 American diplomats and embassy staff, sparking a hostage drama that lasted 444 days.
