Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday mocked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after dozens of diplomats from dozens of countries staged a walkout of his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.
“Today, the evil Zionist regime is the most despised and isolated regime in the world,” he said in a post on X, together with a photo of Netanyahu speaking to a largely empty General Assembly.
Netanyahu’s UNGA speech, which was played through massive loudspeakers that he ordered the Israel Defense Forces to install inside Gaza, lambasted Western leaders for recognizing a Palestinian state, and vowed that Israel will never allow the world to “shove a terrorist state down our throats.”
“We will not commit national suicide because you don’t have the guts to face down a hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel’s blood,” he told the mostly vacant hall.
The walkout of the premier’s speech was organized by the Palestinian Authority, and included diplomats from nearly all Arab and Muslim countries, several African and Asian countries, as well as a number of critical European nations.
While most seats were left empty, Iran’s seats were filled with a compilation of photos of children that Tehran said were killed during Israel’s war there in June.
Meanwhile, a top Iranian security official visited Lebanon on Saturday, calling on regional countries to put their difference aside and cooperate closely as they face what he called “Israel’s conspiracies.”
Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, arrived in Beirut earlier Saturday to attend the anniversary of Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon.
Iran has been the main backer of Hezbollah over the past four decades, supplying it with weapons and money that have turned it into one of the most powerful terror groups in the region. But Hezbollah suffered heavy losses in a 14-month war with Israel, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in November, with much of its top leadership killed in Israeli strikes.
“Today, amid Israel’s conspiracies, regional states should closely cooperate, and even if there were disagreements between them, they should put these disagreements aside,” Larjani said after a nearly one-hour meeting with Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Larijani praised the call by Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem for Saudi Arabia to open a new page after years of tense relations, calling it “a step in the right direction.”
Referring to Israel, Larijani said Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah both “have a common enemy.”
Asked about reports that Israel might launch new strikes against Iran, Larijani said, “We are ready to face all scenarios, but I don’t think that the Israelis will behave in this stupid way.”
“If they do that, they will receive strong retaliation,” Larijani said, without elaborating.
Joining Larjani, Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered at the tomb of the terror group’s former chief Nasrallah to mark the first anniversary of his death.
The Iran-backed terror group, weakened by a deadly war with Israel last year, has organized a series of commemorative events to mark Nasrallah’s death.
Waving the group’s yellow banner as well as Lebanese, Palestinian and Iranian flags, Hezbollah supporters gathered at the leader’s mausoleum, near Beirut airport, while partisan and religious songs blared from loudspeakers, an AFP journalist reported.
The charismatic leader, a major figure in the wider region, was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27, 2024.
Without Nasrallah and with much of its military capability destroyed by Israel, Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanese politics has weakened.
The government has gone as far as to order the army to disarm the terror group, once thought better-equipped than the state. Since his appointment earlier this year, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, under pressure from the United States, has pushed for the terror group to demilitarize.
For many of the supporters gathered for the anniversary, that should not be allowed to happen.
Wisam Hodroj, a 51-year-old working in Iraq, arrived early at the commemorations, where the new leader Qassem was due to speak in the presence of Iranian security chief Larijani.
He said: “What has happened since the last war has only increased our enthusiasm and strength. Today, we have a new cause — we will not compromise on our weapons, and we will not hand them over.”
Nearby, Ali Jaafar, a 21-year-old university student, told AFP: “Handing over the weapons is the dream of the enemies, the internal and external ones — but it will remain just a dream.”