Tehran: In his first social media post since US President Donald Trump’s demand of Tehran’s ‘unconditional surrender’, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a warning to Israel on X saying, “The Battle Begins.”
“Ali returns to Khyber,” the post said, according to a translation by the Iran International news outlet.
These comments were accompanied by religiously charged imagery.
Khamenei’s posts appeared to cast the attacks as part of a larger ideological conflict. Accompanying the “battle begins” message was an image depicting a man entering a castle gate, a reference to the historic Battle of Khyber.
Minutes later, Khamenei posted another warning to Israel: “We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.”
The statements come as Iranian officials have recently vowed a “severe and decisive” retaliation against Israeli attacks on Tehran.
