Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei swore that Israel will not “last long” in a defiant sermon in Tehran on Friday.

With a rifle by his side, Mr Khamenei called the Oct 7 massacre a “logical act” and praised his army’s “brilliant” missile bombardment of Israel earlier this week.

The supreme leader, whose hand occasionally grasped the rifle, promised that Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah and Hamas would not succeed.

“The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win,” said Mr Khamenei at evening prayers in Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran, referring to the recent assassinations of Hassan Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders.