Iran’s Supreme Leader Accuses Israel of ‘Shameless Crimes’ Against Children

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced Israel on Saturday, accusing it of committing “shameless crimes” against children rather than combatants.

Khamenei’s remarks came in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut that resulted in the deaths of at least 31 individuals, including three children and seven women, as reported by Lebanon’s health ministry. The strike, which targeted a building adjacent to a nursery, marked a particularly deadly incident in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia over the past year.

This airstrike followed a series of attacks that involved explosions linked to communication devices used by Hezbollah members. Lebanon has attributed these attacks to Israel, although the Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

According to Khamenei, Israel is unabashedly committing various forms of “shameless crimes” across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria. He criticized Israel for not engaging with “fighting men” but inflicting harm on ordinary civilians instead. In a speech to Muslim envoys in Tehran, aired on state television, Khamenei expressed his outrage: “Unable to hurt the real fighters in Palestine, they are venting their malicious anger on small children, on hospital patients, and on schools filled with young children.”

In a display of military strength on the same day, Iran showcased its new “Jihad” single-stage liquid-fuel ballistic missile, which features a high-explosive detachable warhead and a range of 1,000 kilometers. This unveiling occurred during a parade commemorating the anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war that lasted from 1980 to 1988.