Iran Leader Calls for “Death Sentence” for Israeli Premier

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that death sentences should be issued for Israeli leaders, not arrest warrants.

Khamenei who backs the Hamas and Hezbollah militants fighting Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, made this remark while commenting on a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.

Addressing a meeting with thousands of Iran's para-military Basij members on the occasion of the Basij Week on November 25, the Iranian leader stated that "the stupid Zionists imagine that by bombarding people's homes, hospitals, and places where people are gathered, they're the victors. No, no one in the world considers that to be a victory."

Emphasizing that the enemy has not and will not be victorious in Gaza and Lebanon despite its “egregious war crimes”, Khamenei added that "the arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu is not enough and a death sentence should be issued for him and the criminal leaders of the Zionist regime."

Earlier, on November 23, Khamenei had called for the prosecution of all political and military leaders of the "criminal Zionist terrorist gang".

Speaking at an extraordinary session of the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter on November 25, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel and its allies of "manipulating the concept of antisemitism" to stifle criticism.

The minister urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to provide regular reports to both the Security Council and the General Assembly on the humanitarian crisis in "occupied Palestine” and called for the systematic documentation and reporting of violations of humanitarian rights, such as "war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide".

On the same day, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi accused Israel of “employing weapons such as white phosphorus and depleted uranium against Palestinians and Lebanese civilians”, in its ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Addressing an annual conference of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Gharibabadi called on the UN Security Council to impose effective sanctions on Israel and urged the OPCW to investigate these claims and protect victims.

He also criticized the US, accusing it of non-compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and delaying the destruction of its chemical stockpiles.

Meanwhile, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Maj Gen Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said that Tehran's response to Israel's recent airstrikes will make Israel's leader "regret" the attack, referring to the air strikes targeting Iranian military sites on October 26, when four Iranian army officers were killed, in response to Iran's previous attacks.

The Iranian leaders had vowed to retaliate for Israeli strikes on Iran in October following an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel. The missile attack followed Israeli assassinations of leaders of the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Hamas groups, along with a senior Iranian officer, in attacks in Beirut and Tehran.

Baqeri said on November 26 that Iran's two previous attacks on Israel (on April 13 and October 1) which used missiles and drones, were similar in "terms of tactics, execution, and even the type of weapons used" but "the response to Israel's recent aggression has been planned beyond the imagination of the regime's leaders". He added that the strike will be delivered with tactical precision at the appropriate time.

In the meantime, Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader confirmed that Tehran is formulating a response to Israel's recent attack on Iran, aiming to reset its "strategic calculations.

"This issue is being pursued with great precision," Larijani told the Tasnim News Agency, adding that the response would preserve deterrence and that decisions were being handled by military authorities and kept confidential for national security reasons.