Through an open later, He has said:

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Indeed, we are from God and indeed to Him we shall return.

Dear Iranian nation and the great Islamic Ummah,

The great Mujahid, the standard-bearer of Resistance in the region, a virtuous scholar of religion, and a wise political leader – Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah (may God be pleased with him) – achieved martyrdom in last night’s tragic events in Lebanon and has ascended to the heavens. The dear Sayyid of the Resistance has received his reward for his decades of jihad on the path of God and enduring hardships in a sacred struggle.

He was martyred while busy making plans for defending the defenseless people of Beirut’s Dahiya neighborhood, their destroyed homes, and their lost loved ones. He had also planned, strategized, and fought for decades for the oppressed people of Palestine, their occupied cities and villages, their homes that had been destroyed, and their loved ones who had been massacred. After all his struggles, the reward of martyrdom was his rightful recompense.

The Islamic world has lost a noble figure, the Resistance Front has lost an eminent standard-bearer, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah has lost an unparalleled leader. However, the blessings from his decades of planning and jihad will never be lost. The foundation that Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah established in Lebanon and the direction he provided to other centers of Resistance will not be destroyed as a result of his martyrdom, but rather it will also be strengthened due to his sacrifice and that of the other martyrs of this event.

By the grace and power of God, the blows struck by the Resistance Front on the worn-out, deteriorating body of the Zionist regime will become even more crushing. The foul-natured Zionist regime has not become victorious by carrying out this atrocity. The Sayyid of the Resistance was not just one person. He was a path and a school of thought, and his path will continue. Sayyid Abbas Mousavi’s blood that was spilled on the ground wasn’t without an effect, and the same will be true about that of Martyr Sayyid Hassan.

I offer my condolences and congratulations to the venerable father and the esteemed wife of our dear Sayyid – who had previously lost her son, Sayyid Hadi, on the path of God – to his honorable children, to the families of the martyrs of this tragedy, to each and every member of Hezbollah, to the dear people and high-ranking officials of Lebanon, to the entire Resistance Front, and to the entire Islamic Ummah on the martyrdom of the great Nasrallah and his martyred companions. I hereby announce five days of public mourning in Islamic Iran. May God unite them [these martyrs] with those closest to Him.

May God’s greetings and peace be upon His righteous servants.

Sayyid Ali Khamenei

Sept. 28, 2024