Iran’ s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday made his first public look because the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran started, attending a mourning ceremony on the eve of Ashoura.
Khamenei’s absence throughout the conflict advised heavy safety for the Iranian chief, who has closing say on all state issues. State TV in Iran confirmed him waving and nodding to the chanting crowd, which rose to its ft as he entered and sat at a mosque subsequent to his workplace and residence within the capital, Tehran.
There was no instant report on any public assertion made. Iranian officers such because the Parliament speaker have been current. Such occasions are at all times held below heavy safety.
The 86-year-old Khamenei had spent the conflict in a bunker as threats to his life escalated.
After the U.S. inserted itself into the conflict by bombing three key nuclear websites in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump despatched warnings through social media to Khamenei that the U.S. knew the place he was however had no plans to kill him, “a minimum of for now.”
On June 26, shortly after a ceasefire started, Khamenei made his first public assertion in days, saying in a prerecorded assertion that Tehran had delivered a “slap to America’s face” by placing a U.S. air base in Qatar, and warning in opposition to additional assaults by the U.S. or Israel on Iran.
Trump replied, in remarks to reporters and on social media: “Look, you’re a person of nice religion. A person who’s extremely revered in his nation. It’s a must to inform the reality. You bought beat to hell.”
Iran has acknowledged the deaths of greater than 900 folks within the conflict, in addition to 1000’s of injured. It additionally has confirmed critical harm to its nuclear amenities, and has denied entry to them for inspectors with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
Iran’s president on Wednesday ordered the nation to droop its cooperation with the watchdog, the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company, additional limiting inspectors’ potential to trace a program that had been enriching uranium to close weapons-grade ranges. Israel launched the conflict fearing that Iran was making an attempt to develop atomic weapons.
It stays unclear simply how badly broken the nuclear amenities are, whether or not any enriched uranium or centrifuges had been moved earlier than the assaults, and whether or not Tehran nonetheless can be prepared to proceed negotiations with the US over its nuclear program.
Israel additionally focused protection methods, high-ranking army officers and atomic scientists. In retaliation, Iran fired greater than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of them intercepted, killing 28 folks and inflicting harm in lots of areas.
The ceremony that Khamenei hosted Saturday was a remembrance of the seventh century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein.
Shiites signify over 10% of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, and so they view Hussein because the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad. Hussein’s demise in battle by the hands of Sunnis at Karbala, south of Baghdad, created a rift in Islam and continues to play a key position in shaping Shiite identification.
In predominantly Shiite Iran, purple flags represented Hussein’s blood and black funeral tents and garments represented mourning. Processions of chest-beating and self-flagellating males demonstrated fervor. Some sprayed water over the mourners within the intense warmth.
___
Related Press author Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed.
