Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared in a rare sermon on Friday that his country’s ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this week was “legal and legitimate” and that the “resistance in the region will not back down even if the leaders are killed.”

Khamenei’s public speech was his first during Friday prayers in Tehran in almost five years, according to the AFP.

Khamenei said Iran will not delay or act rashly in carrying out its duty by going after Israel, Reuters reports.

The news agency quoted him as saying that Tuesday’s barrage of nearly 200 missiles fired by Iran into Israel was “legal and legitimate” and the minimum punishment for Israel’s “crimes.”

IRAN WARNS OF ‘DECISIVE RESPONSE’ IF ISRAEL CROSSED ‘RED LINES’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday prayers and a memorial ceremony of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran, Iran, on October 4. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters)

“The resistance in the region will not back down even if its leaders are killed,” Khamenei added, mentioning recently killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the speech.

The comments came as the Israeli military announced on Friday that Mohammad Rashid Sakafi, the commander of Hezbollah’s communications unit, had been killed in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon.

“Sakafi was a high-ranking Hezbollah terrorist in charge of the communications unit since 2000,” the IDF wrote on X. “Sakafi invested significant efforts to develop communications capabilities among all Hezbollah units.”

ISRAEL BANS THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL FOR ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIONS

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran’s missile attack on Israel this week was “legal and legitimate,” Reuters reports. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters)

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said earlier this week that the Iranian missile attack on Israel was “defeated and ineffective” and that the US military was working with the IDF to repel the attacks.

“US Navy destroyers joined Israeli air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down incoming missiles. President Biden and Vice President Harris monitored the attack and response from the White House Situation Room, assisted in person and remotely by their national security team,” Sullivan said during a briefing.

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts missiles during the rocket attack, seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Tuesday, October 1. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)

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“This is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally important that we were able to act together with Israel and create a situation where no one was killed in this attack in Israel… We are now going to look to what the appropriate next steps are to first and foremost secure U.S. interests and then promote stability as much as possible as we move forward,” he added.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.