Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in a statement on Saturday, said that “revenge” must be carried out for the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, by the United States and Israel. Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israel strikes on the first day of the war, February 28, and was buried in his hometown, Mashhad, earlier this week. The new supreme leader has yet to appear in public since his appointment. "Revenge is the demand of our nation and must certainly be carried out," a statement carried by state-linked Fars news agency and attributed to him read. "We pledge that we will take revenge for your pure blood and the blood of all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers," the statement said, addressing the late leader. "These criminals, whose names from top to bottom are known and documented, will take their wish for a peaceful death in old age and in their beds with them to the grave. They must know that this matter does not depend on my existence or that of other officials." The warning came just hours after US President Donald Trump threatened to "decimate" Iran if it tries to kill him. A thousand "missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. The US president said his threat was in response to threats "to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate" him. During Khamenei’s funeral, mourners repeatedly held posters or banners calling for him to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump added in his post that the US military would "completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran — PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!"
