Iran supreme leader says Israel ‘must be punished’ for consulate strike

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says Tehran will retaliate for Israel’s alleged bombing of a consulate building in Damascus earlier this month.

“When they attack the consulate, it is as if they have attacked our soil,” Khamenei says in a sermon following Eid al-Fitr prayers at Tehran’s Grand Mosque, where a large crowd has gathered to mark the end of Ramadan. “The evil regime made a mistake and must be punished, and shall be punished.”

Seven officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed in the April 1 strike, including two of its top figures in Syria.

Iran has repeatedly vowed that it will retaliate, setting Israel on edge, though responses thus far have only been verbal.

Khamenei also criticized the West, particularly the US and Britain, for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

“It was expected they [would] prevent [Israel] in this disaster. They did not. They did not fulfil their duties, the Western governments,” he says.

Khamenei adds that Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza “embittered” Muslims during Ramadan, accusing Israel of killing 30,000 innocents in Gaza.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 33,000 people in the Strip have been killed in the fighting so far, a figure that cannot be independently verified and includes both fighters and civilians. Israel says it has killed more than 13,000 Hamas or affiliated gunmen in battle.