• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
No Result
View All Result
1
Home World

Khamenei says Iran’s strikes at US targets show “hand of God”

17 January 2020, 12:55 PM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
Ayatollah Khamenei says that U.S. sanctions imposed in a row over its nuclear programme would not make Iran yield.

Ayatollah Khamenei says that U.S. sanctions imposed in a row over its nuclear programme would not make Iran yield.

Image: Reuters

Ayatollah Khamenei says that U.S. sanctions imposed in a row over its nuclear programme would not make Iran yield.

Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a Friday prayers sermon that Iran’s missile strikes on US targets in Iraq showed it had divine support in delivering a “slap on the face” to a world power.

Making the main weekly sermon in Tehran for the first time since 2012, with Iran and its clerical rulers under pressure at home and abroad, Khamenei also said that US sanctions imposed in a row over its nuclear programme would not make Iran yield.

Thousands had gathered inside a large prayer hall in central Tehran and packed the area and streets outside the building, chanting “Death to America”.

The sermon was delivered after Iran’s rulers faced days of often violent protests after the military admitted to mistakenly shooting down an airliner in the tense hours after the missile strikes, which were in turn launched in retaliation for the US killing on January 3 of a top Iranian commander, close to Khamenei.

“The fact that Iran has the power to give such a slap to a world power shows the hand of God,” Khamenei, saying the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, showed Washington’s “terrorist nature”.

US President Donald Trump, who pulled Washington out of a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and ratcheted up tension by reimposing US sanctions, had ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani, who built up proxy militias across the region.

After days of denying a role in the plane crash, the Revolutionary Guards, a parallel military force answering directly to Khamenei that acts as guardian of Islamic Republic, finally admitted on January 11 that one of its air defence operators mistakenly shot down Ukraine Airlines International flight 752.

Vigils for the 176 victims swiftly turned into protests against Iran’s rulers. “Death to Khamenei” was chanted at protests and spray painted on walls of Tehran and other cities. Such public criticism can result in a jail term in Iran.

Khamenei described the crash as a tragedy and a very sad incident that was used by Iran’s “enemies”, used to describe the United States and its allies, to overshadow the killing of Soleimani, whose funeral drew huge crowds onto the streets.

In the demonstrations after the downing of the airliner, police launched a sometimes crackdown and deployed riot police outside universities, where many students had protested.

Video footage posted online showed protesters were beaten and also recorded gunshots, teargas and blood on the streets.

Iran’s police denied firing at protesters and said officers had been ordered to show restraint.

Share article
Tags: Qassem SoleimaniIranTehranAyatollah Ali KhameneiDeath to America
Previous Post

CWU calls for Telkom to help affected employees set up businesses as retrenchments loom

Next Post

Miss Universe reiterates message of grooming girls to be leaders

Related Posts

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu delivers a speech during an annual meeting of the Defence Ministry Board in Moscow, Russia, December 21, 2022.

Russia’s Shoigu promises increased munitions supplies

1 April 2023, 2:15 PM
Former US President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump will surrender to authorities in New York on Tuesday

31 March 2023, 5:53 PM
Former U.S. President Donald Trump.

In watershed moment, Trump indictment sets US on uncertain course

31 March 2023, 12:15 PM
[File Image] Former US President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Monroe, Louisiana, US.

Former US President Donald Trump criminally indicted by NY grand jury

31 March 2023, 6:56 AM
The Members of the Court at the opening of the hearings
UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ/Wiebe Kiestra.

World Court rules US was wrong to freeze Iranian assets

30 March 2023, 6:32 PM
[File Image] : A breeder covers his face as he sits behind his chickens, which according to the breeder are not infected with the H7N9 virus.

Chile detects first case of bird flu in a human

30 March 2023, 11:00 AM
Next Post
Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi

Miss Universe reiterates message of grooming girls to be leaders

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • Public sector unions accept revised 7.5% wage increase
  • ‘Medupi Power Station’s design ‘flaws’ deliberate to cost taxpayers money’
  • Zimbabwe Reserve Bank faces sanctions over money laundering accusations
  • UPDATE: Oscar Pistorius denied parole
  • UJ, TUT named hubs of Artificial Intelligence
  • Corporates prepare for a possible national blackout
  • Unions set the record on wage settlement agreement reports
  • UPDATE | Court hears evidence regarding Zuma’s medical records
  • Public sector unions accept revised 7.5% wage increase
  • SABC News crew attacked on N2 while monitoring protests
  • Eight killed in Limpopo N1 crash
  • UPDATE | Five suspects killed during shootout with police in Durban
  • Residents in Durban flat where suspects killed left reeling
  • SABC News distances itself from fake news post
  • Eskom hands back operations of Uganda’s power stations

LATEST

Police badge.
  • South Africa

Police lauded for bringing down murder and drug dealing suspects


SA MotoGP rider Brad Binder
  • Sport

Binder ‘fights like hell’ to win Argentina sprint from 15th on grid


A soccer player on the field.
  • Sport

Orlando Pirates move to second spot on DSTV Premiership log


Mamelodi Sundowns players at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
  • Sport

Mamelodi Sundowns make it six PSL titles in a row


Crime scene tape
  • South Africa

Residents in Durban flat where suspects killed left reeling


EFF members cleaning a dumpsite
  • Politics

Malema takes Andries Tatane clean-up campaign to Limpopo


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2023

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2023

Previous CWU calls for Telkom to help affected employees set up businesses as retrenchments loom
Next Miss Universe reiterates message of grooming girls to be leaders