In a rare recognition of the country the regime has until now refused to name, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has once again called for a swift end to Israel.
He said Sunday,"I hope that God will liberate Palestine as soon as possible, and we witness the final moments of Israel's existence and celebrate its end."
The Iranian regime has consistently called for Israel's destruction, and until now, refused to call it anything other than 'the Zionist entity'. Demonizing the world's only Jewish state has long been a justification for Iran's substantial financial and military support to militant groups like Hamas in Gaza which waged war on Israel on October 7, murdering at least 1,200 mostly civilians and taking another 240 into Gaza.
So strong is the mission since the establishment of the Islamic Republic that while the Iranian economy is on its knees, the regime continues to fund hundreds of millions of dollars each year into its proxies across the region.
In spite of funding the group at least $100m a year and supporting it with military and technical aid, Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Iranian regime was unaware of Hamas' October 7 terror attack against Israel. The report quoted three anonymous senior officials as stating that in a recent meeting in Tehran, Khamenei told Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: “You gave us no warning of your Oct. 7 attack on Israel and we will not enter the war on your behalf.”
Hamas later denied the claims backed up by the fact that there had been months of top level meetings between the regime, Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah in the months leading up to the war.
On Sunday, the supreme leader also called on Muslim nations to hamper Israel economically as the calls for Israel's end continue unabated.