Iran's IRGC Urges 'Jihad' Amid Gaza War

Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, has called on a global jihad amid Israel's ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

Iran’s top military man known for his fiery rhetoric, declared, “Today, Gaza has created the potential for decades of revenge in the hearts of Muslims.”

"The flames of jihad [war] are now burning brightly," he said, claiming a global unity is growing against the United States which has aligned itself with Israel and supported the Jewish state's right to defend itself after Hamas militia invaded on October 7.

Salami said: "The Islamic government requires power, and the enemy only understands the logic of power…Today, we have learned that the only solution is jihad because the enemy does not understand anything else."

Salami further talked about the challenges of jihad saying “Of course, jihad is difficult, and reaching the peaks is tough.”

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and other officials have fervently praised Hamas for initiating the recent attack on Israel in which 1,400 mostly civilians were brutally murdered and a further 240 taken hostage to Gaza. Khamenei also supported the group's goal of eradicating the Jewish state.

However, the regime continues to deny any direct involvement in the attack carried out by its Gaza proxy, though it funds it to the region of $100m a year, in addition to providing technical, military and logistical support. "This was carried out by Palestinians themselves," Khamenei stated in a speech during a military event in Tehran in mid-October.