Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks during a meeting with Iran’s sports champions and medal winners of the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games at Imam Khomeini (ra) Hussainiyah in Tehran on Wednesday morning.
The Iranian sports caravan finished second in the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China, and seventh in the Asian Games among participating countries.
“The Zionist regime suffered a technical fall in Al-Aqsa Storm. Hamas, as a resistance group, not as a government nor a country with many facilities, managed to score a technical fall against the occupying Zionist administration with all those facilities,” the Supreme Leader told the athletes.
Hamas launched the surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the Zionist regime on October 7 in retaliation for the regime’s occupation and crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
In response, Israel waged a bloody war on Gaza that has so far killed at least 14,128 Palestinians, including 5,840 children and 3,920 women, and injured more than 33,000 others.
For its part, the Islamic Republic of Iran has firmly supported the Palestinian resistance group’s operation while condemning the Zionist regime’s “war crime” in Gaza.
Ayatollah Khamenei also offered his heartfelt gratitude to the Iranian athletes who took a stand in support of Palestine, saying, “This is part of Iran’s national power.”
“I would like to thank the athletes who donated their medals to the children of Gaza and to the martyrs of the hospital that was the site of a disaster created by the Zionist regime. I thank the athletes who refused to face the Zionist side,” he said.
According to the Supreme Leader, the Zionists have not been able to remove the stain of this defeat and are killing civilians to compensate for their loss.
“Yes, they are showing strength; but where?” he said, arguing that this show of strength has no value when bombs are dropped on hospitals, schools, and the defenseless people of Gaza.
“This is like if an athlete loses on the field, and then in revenge for that loss, he attacks the fans of the opposing team, insults them, and beats them up,” he added.
“Such bombings will only shorten the life of this occupying regime. This cruelty will not go unanswered.”
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