Tel Aviv, 4 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has defended the recent rocket attack his country launched on Israel and encouraged Iran's allies in the region.

"The glorious action of our armed forces ... was an entirely legal and legitimate act. In fulfilling our duty, we do not hesitate and do not act hastily," the head of state said during a closely watched sermon at Friday prayers in the capital Tehran.

As is customary in these sermons, a sniper rifle stood next to the lectern as a symbol of fighting spirit.

Khamenei, who under the constitution has the final say on all strategic matters of the Islamic Republic, also issued a threat against Iran's arch-enemy: "Every blow against the Zionist regime [Israel] is a service to all of humanity."

The 85-year-old described the Jewish state as a tool of the United States. "This cursed regime is rootless, artificial and unstable, and it struggles to maintain itself only with the support of the US." Khamenei said the resistance of the militias it supports - the Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas movements - would prevail.

Khamenei said that Iran wouldn't hesitate to launch fresh attacks on Israel in the future "if necessary."

Later the deputy commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it would target Israeli infrastructure in the event of a war.

Ali Fadavi named refineries and "energy sources" as possible targets, the Mehr news agency and state television reported.

Photo: Al Jazeera screenshot