Enemies’ security must be taken away, says Iran’s supreme leader

Dubai: Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei called Friday for the enemies of his nations to have their “security” taken away, in his latest message to the public.

Khamenei made the remarks in a statement issued on his behalf and sent to President Masoud Pezeshkian, after Israel killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.

Khamenei hasn’t been seen since he was named as supreme leader, succeeding his father, the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28.

The United States was meanwhile deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, a US official told The Associated Press.

Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighbouring Gulf Arab states as many in the region marked one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar.

Iranians were also celebrating the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, a normally festive holiday that is more subdued this year.

With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained since the war began Feb 28 or even who was truly in charge of the country.

But Iran has showed it is still capable of attacks that are choking off oil supplies and denting the global economy, raising food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

The US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to

eliminating its nuclear and missile programs. There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end in sight to the war.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised Iranians’ steadfastness in the face of war in a written statement read on Iranian television to mark the Persian New Year, Nowruz.