Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader. AFP
Khamenei issued the message after Major General Majid Khademi, head of the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), was assassinated in what he described as a "terrorist US‑Israeli strike" on the Iranian capital, Tehran.
He extended condolences to Iranian military commanders over "Khademi’s martyrdom" and condemned the assassination of Iranian leaders.
“Having faced successive failures in its ominous plots and imposed war against the Iranian nation and fighters, the American-Zionist enemy once again resorted to the constant ploy of terrorism and assassinated one of the commanders of the country's intelligence and security community,” he said.
Khamenei stressed that Khademi, who "had devoted decades to Iran’s security, intelligence, and defense arenas, ascended to martyrdom.”
“However, the unbreakable ranks of those fighting in the path of truth in Islamic Iran and self‑sacrificing armed forces are so firm and deep-rooted that assassination and crime cannot make a dent in those fighters’ ideals,” he added.
The US‑Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February 2026, when coordinated airstrikes by the United States and Israel targeted Iranian military leadership, government facilities, and wide swathes of civilian infrastructure, killing and wounding thousands of Iranians.
In retaliation, Iran has launched missile and drone attacks on Israel, US military bases in the region, and energy infrastructure in Arab Gulf countries, causing widespread destruction and damage, and killing more than three dozen.
On the first day of the war, the US and Israel killed Iran’s long-serving Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a targeted assassination. His son Mojtaba was selected to replace him as the supreme leader a week later.
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