Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called on the Iranian people to stay resolute in the face of escalating tensions.

“If the enemy senses that you fear them, they won’t let go of you,” he said in a message posted on X. He added, “Continue the very behavior that you have had up to this day; continue this behavior with strength.”

His statement comes amid heightened conflict following a barrage of Iranian missile attacks that injured more than 240 people and damaged a key hospital in southern Israel.

The strikes also hit residential areas near Tel Aviv. Although most injuries were minor, Israel’s Health Ministry reported four people in serious condition. Over 70 of the wounded were at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where an older surgical building suffered a direct hit.

In retaliation, Israel carried out a strike on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor—an element of its nuclear infrastructure. The Israeli military said the operation was intended to disable components involved in potential plutonium production.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant placed direct blame on Ayatollah Khamenei for the attack, declaring, “The military has been instructed and understands that for us to meet our objectives, this man must no longer remain alive.” According to U.S. officials, President Donald Trump had earlier blocked an Israeli plan to assassinate Khamenei.

Iran’s missile and drone attacks—now numbering over 400 missiles and hundreds of drones—were launched in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes that began last Friday, which targeted Iranian military sites and personnel linked to its nuclear program. A U.S.-based Iranian rights organization reported that at least 639 people have been killed in Iran during the current conflict, including 263 civilians. Israel has confirmed at least 24 deaths and hundreds of injuries on its side.

Despite Israel’s advanced air defense system, a missile hit Soroka Hospital shortly after warning sirens were activated. The hospital has since limited its services to emergency cases. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned the attack, stating, “We will exact a full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”

Iran, meanwhile, said there was no radiation threat following the Israeli strike on the Arak reactor, noting that the facility had been evacuated beforehand. Tehran also dismissed renewed U.S. calls to abandon its nuclear ambitions, maintaining that its program is for peaceful purposes—even as it continues enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels.

Israel has previously struck other critical Iranian sites, including those in Natanz, Tehran, and Isfahan, and has been linked to the targeted killings of senior military officials and nuclear scientists.

Source: BBC