Iran’s New Supreme Leader Pledges to Avenge Khamenei’s Killing
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 11: Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday pledged to avenge the killing of his father Ali Khamenei after Iran laid to rest the mortal remains of the former supreme leader over four months after his death in the US airstrikes as two days of U.S. and Iranian attacks raised fears of a return to all-out war.
Khamenei’s flag-covered coffin was carried aloft into the shrine of Imam Reza in his home city of Mashhad in eastern Iran as a sea of people waited outside and listened to prayers, with no sign of a public appearance by his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei. The “body of the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution was buried in the memorial hall of the shrine of Imam Reza,” official said.
The burial came after a second day of tit-for-tat attacks by Washington and Tehran’s forces, with Iranian officials reporting that U.S. strikes killed 17 people and state media saying one targeted a railway line between Tehran and Mashhad.
In a written message, Mojtaba Khamenei said the people of the Islamic Republic “demand” to take revenge for the assassination of his predecessor and father, Ali Khamenei. The message that was released on his social media, he pledged to “avenge the blood” of Khamenei and the “martyrs” killed in the war. “We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers,” Khamenei said in the message.
He said the vengeance of Iran must “inevitably be carried out.” He said the matter did not depend on his personal existence or that of other officials. “Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass,” Khamenei wrote. He then expressed his gratitude towards the “enemy-shattering” turnout of people across Iran and Iraq.
“I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible, enemy-shattering, and historic turnout of tens of millions of people across Iran and Iraq, particularly in Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala, and Mashhad,” he wrote.
The statement was released on the occasion of the funeral ceremonies of Ali Khamenei, which were held months after he was killed in the US-Israeli strikes on his office in Tehran on February 28.
Meanwhile, the US President Donald Trump has recently been speaking at length about Iran’s plans to assassinate him. A day before Khamenei’s statement, Trump said he has been on Iran’s “list” for a long time. “I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with… The only thing is, I’ve left instructions, if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before,” he said.
When asked about the new plot by Iran to assassinate him that Israel warned about, he said that there were no new plans. However, he claimed that Iran has wanted him dead for years. “No, no. Israel came up with nothing. No, no,” he said. “I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.” “I hope you’ll miss me,” he added.
After the NATO Summit in Ankara, Trump swapped his plans while travelling back to the United States. The White House later acknowledged it to be a security tactic for the president’s safety.
The Islamic republic said it had resumed attacks targeting U.S. assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, while sirens blared in Jordan – another American ally – where the military said it had intercepted eight missiles launched from Iran. Khamenei is only the second ruler of the nation to be buried in the city of Mashhad. In 1747, Nader Shah was buried in the city after he was assassinated following nearly 11 years in power.
