The leader made the remark on Monday as he addressed a ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of the demise of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, which was carried out by Palestine’s Hamas resistance movement in retaliation for the Zionist regime’s decades-long occupation and atrocities against Palestinians, occurred at exactly the right time, pointing out that it disrupted the enemy’s conspiracies for the region.

“Al-Aqsa Storm put the Zionist regime on a path, the end of which is nothing but its decay and destruction. The [October 7] storm destroyed the great international conspiracy for the West Asia region. This is the miracle of Al-Aqsa Storm,” he said.  

According to the Supreme Leader, the Palestinian resistance’s operation was a decisive blow to the Zionist regime that took the enemy to the corner of the battlefield where it had no escape route.

Western analysts also believe that the Zionist regime has suffered a severe defeat from the resistance front in Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, he said, quoting a Western analyst as saying that the operation will change the world.

At the same time, he added, an Israeli historian says that the Zionist project is dying.

“The brutal attack of the Zionist regime is a nervous reaction to the foiling of their plot,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted, adding that the tragic developments unfolding in Gaza are the price that the Palestinian nation is paying for its liberation.

On another note, the Supreme Leader said that the issue of Palestine has now become the first and foremost issue of the world, with students at US universities chanting slogans in solidarity with Palestine.

He also quoted Imam Khomeini as saying that the Palestinian people themselves would have to restore their rights in the field of action and force the Zionist regime to retreat, and recalled another remark on Palestine by the imam who said “don’t settle for compromise in negotiations”.  

‘Raisi symbol of Revolution’s slogans’

Elsewhere in his address, the Supreme Leader spoke about the martyrdom of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions, who lost their lives in a helicopter crash on May 19.

He called their martyrdom “one of the most important points in the history of the Islamic Revolution.”

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the “dear president” made Iran stand out in the eyes of the political leaders of the world.

He called people’s mourning for the dear president “an epic event”, which showed that the Iranian nation is motivated and tireless, and have an emotional attachment to their officials.

People’s gatherings, the leader continued, showed that the nation supports the Islamic Revolution’s slogans, because “Raisi was a symbol of the revolution’s slogans.”

He hastened to add that such gatherings will have an effect on regional equations.

Despite the loss of the president, the country managed to maintain its peace and security fully, the Supreme Leader maintained.

Presidential election

Ayatollah Khamenei called for holding magnificent elections, advising presidential candidates to observe morality in the vote set to take place on June 28 to choose a successor to the late president Raisi.  

“The upcoming election is a phenomenon full of achievements,” the leader said. “If God willing, it is held well and with grandeur, it would be a great achievement for the Iranian nation.”

God willing, a worthy president will be elected for the Iranian nation, he said.

The ceremony to mark Imam Khomeini’s demise anniversary was held at his mausoleum in southern Tehran with the presence of his devotees.

Ayatollah Rouhollah Mousavi Khomeini passed away in 1989 at the age of 86, ten years after he led a popular revolution that overthrew the US-backed Pahlavi regime in Iran.