Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, declared on June 13 (local time) that Iran would take strong retaliatory action in response to Israel's preemptive attack on the country's nuclear facilities and other sites.
According to the state-run IRNA news agency, Ayatollah Khamenei stated in a declaration, "The Zionist regime (Israel) has reached out its filthy and bloodstained hands to attack residential areas in our beloved homeland," and condemned Israel, saying, "It has revealed its most vicious nature ever."
Ayatollah Khamenei said, "This regime has prepared a bitter and painful fate for itself," and added, "It must be subjected to harsh retribution." He further emphasized, "The powerful hand of the Iranian military will not let them go unpunished."
He referred to the deaths of several individuals, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and nuclear scientists, as "martyrdom," and stated, "Their successors will continue their mission according to God's will."
In the early hours of the day, the Israeli military launched a surprise airstrike on Iran's Natanz nuclear facility and other locations, mobilizing dozens of fighter jets. The airstrike resulted in the deaths of several high-ranking IRGC officials, including Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami, as well as nuclear scientists such as Mohammad Tehranchi and Fereydoon Abbasi.
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