Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been moved to a safe location inside the country, with tight security measures in place, two officials told Reuters. The officials, both from the Middle East, said Iran was in constant contact with Hezbollah to determine its next move, after Israel announced the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.

The New York Times reported yesterday, Friday, that Iranian officials said that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for an emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council at his home to discuss the response to the Israeli strike in Beirut that targeted the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

For his part, Ali Larijani, advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader and former parliament speaker, said in an interview with Iranian television on Friday that Tehran will stand by the resistance in all circumstances, adding that "Israel has crossed Iran's red lines and the situation will become serious." He explained that Hezbollah won the July 2006 war, "although the crises and attacks were more severe than today, and we still have other chapters ahead of us in which we hope the Lebanese people will win," stressing that "with the assassination of the resistance leaders, others will take their place. The assassination will not solve Israel's problem, but will increase the resolve of the Lebanese people."

Today, in a letter to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref described the attacks on Lebanon as “a clear crime against humanity that exposed the nature of state terrorism of this entity.” Aref stressed that the barbaric bombing of Lebanon “is a flagrant violation of all international laws, including the territorial integrity of Lebanon,” noting that it “also reflects the inability of the international community to stop the Israeli war machine.”

Earlier, during a meeting of the UN Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for "a global campaign to stop the bloodthirsty criminal Netanyahu, who is no less than Adolf Hitler," stressing that the Security Council must immediately intervene to stop Israel and issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and those close to him in the International Court of Justice.