(Tehran) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s highest authority, accused the United States on Wednesday of “in some way directing” operations carried out by Israel against Hamas in the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.
“The United States is the undeniable accomplice of the crimes” perpetrated in Gaza, declared the supreme leader in a speech delivered in Tehran.
They have “on their hands […] the blood of the oppressed, of children, of patients, of women and others,” he added, on 19e day of the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Israel.
According to Ayatollah Khamenei, “the United States is in some way directing the crimes that are being perpetrated in Gaza.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi had already accused the United States on October 18 of being “accomplices in the crimes” of Israel, the day of American President Joe Biden’s visit to this country.
On October 10, Ayatollah Khamenei denied his country’s involvement in the massive attack launched on October 7 by Hamas against Israel, while reaffirming Iranian support “for Palestine.”
More than 1,400 people have died in Israel since the start of the war, most of them civilians killed on the day of the attack, according to authorities.
Hamas said Tuesday that 5,791 people, mostly civilians, including 2,360 children, had been killed by Israeli retaliatory bombings.
Ayatollah Khamenei affirmed on Wednesday that “the Palestinian nation” would emerge “victorious” from the conflict. “The future world is that of Palestine, not that of the Zionist regime,” he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a warning to Tehran on Tuesday, saying the United States would respond “decisively” to any attack by “Iran or its proxies” in the Middle East.