Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed sorrow over the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a statement shared on his official X account Saturday.
Khamenei called Sinwar’s death a “painful” loss for the “Resistance Front” – referring to a network of Iran-backed regional proxies including Hamas – but vowed that the movement would continue.
The front “didn’t halt its progress in wake of the martyrdoms of eminent figures,” he said, citing previous Hamas leaders killed by Israel over the years. “Similarly, it won’t falter with Sinwar’s martyrdom either.”
In his statement, addressed to Muslim nations and the “courageous youth of the region,” Khamenei praised Sinwar for dedicating his life to the struggle against Israel and said “anything less than martyrdom would have been an unworthy fate” for the Hamas leader.
Sinwar, believed by Israel to have been chief architect of the militant group’s deadly October 7 attack that set off the war in Gaza, was killed by Israeli forces during a routine ground patrol in Rafah on Wednesday, Israeli officials said. Hamas has confirmed his death.
