Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, discussing the war sparked by Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel, remarked that “we kiss the foreheads and arms of the skillful and intelligent designers and Palestinian youth, but those who say that the recent epic is the work of non-Palestinians suffer from miscalculation… The actions of the Zionists [ie, Israel] brought this disaster on them. When cruelty and crime passes the limit, when rapacity reaches its peak, one should wait for the storm”. He also warned that “with the massacre of the people of Gaza, they will receive a heavier slap”.