Speaking at the sermons of this week’s Friday prayers, Ayatollah Khatami said that the enemy has always sought to destroy Iran. “Now they are talking about destruction [of Iran], because they see themselves in a life-and-death situation, but we are standing firm like the cypress tree.”
He noted that demonstrations worldwide showed growing hatred of Israel, while Iran’s power was elevated, citing that for the first time since World War II, a country boldly struck a US base, namely Al-Udeid in Qatar. “Iran powerfully targeted the base and displayed its strength to the world,” he said.
Khatami declared that the war revealed Israel as a “cancerous tumor” that must be removed. He warned Muslim countries that if Israel grows stronger, it will inflict on them what it did to Syria.
“Iran was not the initiator of the war, but it defended itself resolutely,” he said elsewhere in his remarks.
Khatami stated that the U.S. directly entered the war to save Israel, which explains why the slogan ‘Death to America’ still resonates among Iranians.
Khatami concluded by condemning the United States’ record of aggression, saying Washington has directly or indirectly attacked 25 countries in recent decades and that its history is “a black dossier of crimes.”
While the Zionist regime waged a war of aggression against Iran on June 13 and struck Iran’s military, nuclear, and residential areas for 12 days, the US stepped in and conducted military attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran’s Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan on June 22.
The Iranian military forces conducted powerful counterattacks immediately after the aggression. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force carried out 22 waves of retaliatory missile strikes against the Zionist regime as part of Operation True Promise III, which inflicted heavy losses on cities across the occupied territories.
Also, in response to the US attacks, Iranian armed forces launched a wave of missiles at al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia.
A ceasefire that came into force on June 24 has brought the fighting to a halt.
MNA/