Hardline clerics defy Israeli strike threat in sermons nationwide
Friday Prayers leaders who are the voice of Iran's theocratic system expressed defiance and pledged a forceful response to a looming Israeli military response to Iran's October 1 missile barrage against the Jewish state.
Ahmad Khatami in Tehran warned that Iran stands ready to deliver a third missile volley against Israel after the October salvo and another attack in April.
"If Israel makes a wrong move, it will be struck by the True Promise Operation 3," Khatami said during his sermon on Friday.
Khatami, a hardliner, referenced a Quranic verse, saying, "God says in Surah An-Nisa, verse 71, to always be prepared. The enemy wants you to be negligent in this matter." He emphasized that the verse encourages "military, cultural, economic, psychological, and all kinds of preparedness."
Earlier this year, Iran carried out its first direct strike on Israeli territory, which Tehran labeled "Operation True Promise." The April 13 attack involved over 350 drones and missiles almost all of which were intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition, according to Israeli sources.
The state’s second strike was dubbed "Operation True Promise 2" and involved 181 missiles and was carried out in retaliation for the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Although most missiles were intercepted, a few struck military targets and caused minor damage. After the April attack, Israel responded with air strikes on an air defense site in central Iran.
"Resistance has a cost"
In the city of Qom, another hardline cleric and Friday Prayers leader said past compromises with adversaries have proven ineffective.
“Resistance has a cost, but what endures, holds value, and earns God's satisfaction is resistance,” Imam Mohammad Saeedi said.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamedani, a senior figure in Iran's Shi'ite clerical hierarchy, expressed concern over apparent divisions within the nation's preeminent seminary in Qom, suggesting that some may support recognizing Israel’s existence.
"We will not allow, under these difficult conditions in Lebanon and Palestine, for some within the seminary to speak of a supposedly independent country," Noori said on Friday.
“The seminary must uphold its authentic traditions and emphasize preserving the people's faith and the nation's greatness. There should be no division within the seminary,” he added.
In another clerical center in Mashhad, Ahmad Alam al-Huda said “national unity,” a slogan of the current government, bolsters the Resistance Front - a term Tehran uses for its allied militias in the region.
“The Front that has formed today in Palestine and Lebanon, where homes are destroyed over people's heads, individuals are displaced, and lives are lost under the rubble, is our front and the front of resistance."
"Today, we are obliged to support the Resistance movement with any available resources; we are indeed supporting the front of Islam.”
With Israel's attack expected imminently, Tehran has intensified its diplomatic outreach across the region, aiming to strengthen alliances with neighboring Arab nations.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Air Force crews at the southern Hatzerim Air Base that any counterattack would "levy a heavy price," adding in a video shared on X, “After we attack Iran, everyone will understand your might.”
US President Joe Biden has expressed support for an Israeli response to the Oct. 1 Iranian strike but has said he does not endorse an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
