Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei remains in hiding in a secure location within the country, sources told Reuters.
The decision came after Israel carried out an airstrike on the outskirts of Beirut on Friday that killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader and founding member of the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.
Two sources also told Reuters that Iran had contacted Hezbollah and other proxies in the region to decide what action to take in response to Nasrallah's killing.
“The fate of the region will be determined by the resistance forces, led by Hezbollah,” Khamenei said in a statement on Saturday.
Israeli army says Hamas leader in southern Syria killed in attack
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks after the presidential election run-off in Tehran on July 5, 2024. (ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
Khamenei called Nasrallah the region's “standard-bearer of resistance” while announcing five days of public mourning.
“The blood of the martyrs cannot go unavenged,” Khamenei said, according to Reuters.
Iranian media reported on Saturday that an Israeli attack on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital also killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Abbas Nirforoushan.
In addition to the attack that killed Nasrallah, Israel has also killed several senior Hezbollah officials in Beirut, particularly in the past two weeks.
Earlier this month, thousands of explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, killing at least a dozen people and injuring thousands more, Lebanese officials said. Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack, but has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
Reuters quoted an Iranian security official as saying the Revolutionary Guards were carrying out a large-scale operation to inspect all communications equipment.
The official said Iran was carrying out a thorough investigation focusing on mid-ranking and high-ranking members of the Revolutionary Guards, and that most of the equipment was manufactured in Lebanon or imported from China and Russia.
Iran is considering the possibility of infiltration by Israeli operatives, including Iranians, who received funding from Israel, officials told Reuters.
A demonstrator holds up a photo of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran, September 27, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
Following Nasrallah's death, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Tehran, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to the murderer Netanyahu,” according to the Associated Press. Reported.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the United States bears some responsibility for Nasrallah's killing, given that Washington supplies weapons to Israel.
“Americans cannot deny collusion with the Zionists,” he said in a statement broadcast by state media, according to Reuters.
Israel targets Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in attack on Beirut headquarters
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in support of Gaza on October 8, a day after Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostages. Ta.
Since then, both countries have escalated cross-border strikes. Iranian proxies include Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen, as well as other groups operating in Iraq. The Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel and ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea off Yemen's coast since the October 7 attack.
In his first public remarks since Nasrallah's killing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's targeting of Nasrallah was “a necessary condition for achieving the goals we have set.”
“He was not another terrorist. He was the terrorist,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is depicted on a banner next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, on September 26, 2024. (HOSSEIN BERIS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Prime Minister Netanyahu said Nasrallah's killing would help return displaced Israelis to their northern homes and put pressure on Hamas to release Israeli hostages held in Gaza. But he warned that the coming days would pose “significant challenges” as the threat of retaliation grew and warned Iran not to attempt an attack.
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani, sent a letter to the heads of the United Nations and the Security Council on Saturday, calling for an emergency council meeting on the attack that killed Nasrallah.
“Using a 1,000-pound bunker buster supplied by the United States,” Israel killed Nasrallah, Nilforoushan and others, he wrote.
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He warned Israel not to attack diplomatic facilities, consulates or their representatives, according to the Associated Press.
“Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent rights under international law and will do everything possible to protect its vital national and security interests,” Iravani said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
