Iran's Khamenei says U.S. showed its 'terrorist nature' by killing Soleimani
Khamenei said that Iran's missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq showed it had divine support in delivering a "slap on the face" to a world power.
Making the main weekly sermon in Tehran for the first time since 2012, with Iran and its clerical rulers under pressure at home and abroad, Khamenei also said that U.S. sanctions imposed in a row over its nuclear program would not make Iran yield.
Thousands had gathered inside a large prayer hall in central Tehran and packed the area and streets outside the building, chanting "Death to America".
The sermon was delivered after Iran's rulers faced days of often violent protests after the military admitted to mistakenly shooting down an airliner in the tense hours after the missile strikes, which were in turn launched in retaliation for the U.S. killing on Jan. 3 of a top Iranian commander, close to Khamenei.
