Khamenei promises response to attacks on Iran and allies

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Saturday to respond to attacks by Israel and its ally the US against Tehran and the groups it supports in the region.

“The enemies, both the US and the Zionist regime, should know that they will certainly receive a heartbreaking response to what they are doing against Iran, the Iranian nation and the resistance front,” Khamenei told a student gathering in Tehran. , referring to the alliance of Tehran-backed groups that include Yemen’s Houthis, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas.

It comes as Washington announced the deployment of additional military assets to the Middle East, including ballistic missile defense destroyers and long-range B-52 bombers, as a warning to Iran as it and Israel tit-for-tat exchanges of blows.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it fired rockets at an Israeli intelligence base near Tel Aviv in the early hours of Saturday.

Hezbollah and Israel exchanged cross-border fire for nearly a year after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war, before Israel escalated the conflict on September 23.

The group frequently claims to have fired rockets at Israeli bases or urban areas in Israeli territory, and has repeatedly claimed to be targeting Glilot.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that sirens were activated after the arrival of “suspicious aerial targets” from Lebanon, and the targets remained under surveillance in an ongoing incident. (AFP)