Mojtaba Khamenei praises Hezbollah, calls for continued jihad, attacks against Israel

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has called for sustained "jihadist attacks" against Israel, while expressing praise for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. These statements were reportedly made in response to a letter from Hezbollah pledging allegiance to Iran's Islamic Republic.

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there remains no path forward except jihad and resistance

Khamenei asserted that "there remains no path forward except jihad and resistance" against the United States and Israel. He further claimed that Hezbollah's commitment to terrorism serves as an "inspiring message" for those seeking "liberation from global arrogance" and "divine victory." The defense of Hezbollah, he stated, is Iran's "strategic mandate," a policy inherited from his father, the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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become an inspiring message

In his statements, Khamenei also mourned the killing of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who died in 2024 due to Israeli strikes. Khamenei described Nasrallah as "Hezbollah’s master of martyrs," attributing the group's transformation from a "sapling of Islamic resistance into a mighty tree" to his leadership. Khamenei also indicated that Iran's primary condition for a peace agreement with the U.S. would be the cessation of all Israeli operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

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defense of Hezbollah is Iran's 'strategic mandate'