Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be leading the Friday prayers in the country, his first in nearly five years, days after Tehran launched a missile barrage on Israel after the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Khamenei will be leading prayers at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran, according to his official website. The Friday prayers will follow a commemoration ceremony at 10.30 am local time for Nasrallah.
Khamenei last led Friday prayers in January 2020, shortly after Iran fired missiles at a US army base in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani.
Why is Khamenei leading the sermon?
Khamenei’s Friday sermon comes three days before the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack.
Following Nasrallah’s death, Khamenei had urged Muslims “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the … wicked regime (of Israel)”. Khamenei had also declared five days of mourning and vowed that “his blood will not go unavenged.”
“(Nasrallah) was not an individual. He was a path and a school of thought and the path will be continued,” Khamenei said.
According to reports, a prominent Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard had also died in the Israeli airstrike that killed Nasrallah in Beirut. The killing of General Abbas Nilforushan marks the latest casualty suffered by Iran. Ahmad Reza Pour Khaghan, the deputy head of Iran’s judiciary, also confirmed Nilforushan’s death, describing him as a “guest to the people of Lebanon”, the state-run IRNA news agency had said.
Khaghan also reportedly said that Iran had the right to retaliate under international law. Nilforushan served as the deputy commander for operations in the Guard, a role overseeing its ground forces.
With inputs from AP
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