Iran: Ali Khamenei to lead the long prayer – What changes after the attack on Israel – 2024-10-06 22:32:48

Iran’s supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is expected to lead Friday prayers today, Friday, October 4. At the same time, he himself is going to deliver a sermon, in which he may set the tone for the country’s plans, after the attack launched by the country against Israel with dozens of missiles.

Khamenei, who makes the final decision on Iran’s key policy issues, may with his sermon today reveal how Tehran intends to proceed next.

The Revolutionary Guards, an elite body of the Iranian army, have pointed out that this operation was carried out in retaliation for the killing of the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and one of its commanders, Abbas Nilforoushan.

Also, the attack was aimed at avenging the assassination of the head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, which took place in Tehran.

Before Friday prayers, a “memorial ceremony” will be held for Nasrallah, according to Ali Khamenei’s website. The prayer is to be held at 10:30 (local time, 10:00 Greek time) at the Mosala Grand Mosque in central Tehran.

The last time Khamenei led Friday prayers was in 2020, following an Iranian missile attack on two bases where Americans were stationed in Iraq. The strikes came in response to the killing of Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani by a US drone in Baghdad.

On Thursday, October 3, protesters carrying Hezbollah and Iranian flags gathered at the building, which formerly housed the US embassy. Their purpose was to denounce Israel’s “crimes” in Gaza and Lebanon, according to local media.