Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared in public for the first time on Saturday since the recent 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, taking part in a religious ceremony in Tehran, according to state media.
The 86-year-old leader was seen in a video broadcast by state television at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in central Tehran, where he was welcomed with chants of support from worshippers marking the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a significant date in the Shia Muslim calendar.
Dressed in black, Khamenei stood on stage as the crowd raised their fists and chanted, “The blood in our veins for our leader!” The event marked his return to public view after nearly three weeks, during which tensions between Iran and Israel escalated sharply.
Khamenei last appeared publicly on June 11, two days before Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Iranian territory, initiating the most intense direct conflict between the two countries in decades. Though he addressed the nation in a pre-recorded video last week, Saturday’s ceremony was his first in-person appearance since the war began.
The Israeli strikes, reportedly aimed at halting Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions — which Tehran has consistently denied — killed over 900 people in Iran, according to its judiciary. Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks on Israeli cities left at least 28 people dead, official sources say.
The conflict marked a dramatic escalation in the long-running shadow war between the two nations and raised fears of wider regional instability.
SR
