Iran’s supreme leader threatens Israel and the US with ‘a crushing response’ to the Israeli attack

Iran’s allies, dubbed the ‘Axis of the Resistance’ by Tehran, have also been seriously injured by the continued Israeli attacks, particularly the Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Iran has long used these groups as both an asymmetric way to attack Israel and as a shield against a direct attack. Some analysts believe these groups want Iran to do more to support them militarily.

Iran, however, faces its own problems at home as its economy struggles under the weight of international sanctions and has faced years of widespread, multiple protests. After Khamenei’s speech, Iran’s rial fell to 691,500 against the dollar, near an all-time low. It was 32,000 rials per dollar when Tehran reached its nuclear deal with world powers in 2015.

General Mohammad Ali Naini, a spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that controls the ballistic missiles needed to target Israel, gave an interview published by the semi-official Fars news agency just before Khamenei’s comments were released. In it, he warned that Iran’s response “will be wise, strong and beyond the understanding of the enemy.”

“The leaders of the Zionist regime must look out of their bedroom windows and protect their criminal pilots within their small territory,” he warned. Israeli Air Force pilots appear to have used air-launched ballistic missiles in the October 26 attack.

Khamenei met with university students on Saturday to mark Students’ Day, which commemorates a November 4, 1978 incident in which Iranian soldiers opened fire on students protesting against the Shah’s rule at the University of Tehran. The shooting killed and injured several students, and tensions over Iran at the time further escalated, eventually leading to the Shah fleeing the country and the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The crowd gave Khamenei a raucous welcome and chanted: “The blood in our veins is a gift to our leader!” Some also made a hand gesture – similar to a ‘time out’ signal – given by the slain Hezbollah leader. Hassan Nasrallah in 2020 in a speech in which he threatened that US troops who arrived standing up in the Middle East would “return horizontally in coffins.”