Israel accused Tehran of an “assault on the holy websites” of Jerusalem, after a blast blew a crater within the Outdated Metropolis a number of hundred metres from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Khamenei has not appeared in public since being named to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes at the beginning of the battle that has engulfed the area, and has solely issued written statements.
Iranians have “dealt him (the enemy) a dizzying blow in order that he now begins uttering contradictory phrases and nonsense,” Khamenei mentioned in a written message for Nowruz, the Persian New 12 months.
“In the intervening time, because of the specific unity that has been created between you our compatriots – regardless of all of the variations in non secular, mental, cultural and political origins – the enemy has been defeated,” Khamenei mentioned within the message.
The assertion of defiance got here as Iranians marked a muted Nowruz underneath the shadow of a battle now approaching its fourth week.
AFP journalists heard a number of blasts in Tehran on Friday, from the japanese and northern components of town.
Within the Iranian capital’s markets, consumers had been out in pressure shopping for new garments and items, though sidewalks had been much less packed than traditional for this time of yr, with many individuals having fled north, AFP correspondents mentioned.
