Ali Khamenei: The consulate is the country's territory, they made a mistake and must be punished

In his speech on Eid al-Fitr, Ali Khamenei said: "The consulate is the country's soil, they made a mistake and they must be punished."

Today, Wednesday, April 12, Eid al-Fitr prayers were held in the presence of senior Iranian political and military officials. In his speech, Ali Khamenei, while referring to the airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Syria and blaming Israel, said in front of the worshippers: "Iran made a mistake by attacking the consulate, it must be punished and it will be punished."

In his speech, he referred to the soldiers killed in the attack and, naming "Mohammad Reza Zahedi" and "Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi," two IRGC brigadiers, he said: "We mourned our martyrs, but they succeeded and achieved their goal. When the Zionists attacked our consulate, they attacked our soil. We will make Israel regret it."

Shortly after Ali Khamenei's speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote in Persian on the X social network: "If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran."

In the past two days, Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah, said in his latest speech: "Ayatollah Khamenei and the officials of the Islamic Republic have made a firm decision that Iran's response will come directly."

Ali Khamenei criticized Western governments, calling the United States and Britain cruel and arrogant, and said, "Some of them not only did not prevent the war, but also supported it." Regarding domestic politics, he added, "There is nothing wrong with political differences, but breaking unity and creating false divisions is detrimental to the country."

He also said in response to "pretending to fast" during Ramadan: "Certainly, the Islamic Republic system does not want to force people to be religious." However, he called on officials in charge of enjoining good and forbidding evil to do their duty against violations of the norm.