Mojtaba Khamenei vowed revenge on the killers of Ali Larijani in his second statement since taking power.
Iran’s new supreme leader, who has still not been seen in public since succeeding his assassinated father, warned that the “criminal killers of the martyrs must pay” following the death of Larijani, his security chief.
In a written statement, he described the top official, who died in an Israeli strike on Tuesday, as a “knowledgeable, intelligent, committed individual”.
Khamenei is believed to be wounded, having injured his leg in the same attack that killed his father, wife, son and brother-in-law on the first day of the war.
Addressing Larijani’s death, he said: “The anti-Islamists should know that shedding this blood at the foot of the mighty tree of the Islamic system will only make it stronger.
Every blood spilt has a price that the criminal killers of the martyrs must pay for soon.”
Khamenei also issued a statement criticising the “cowardly enemy” that killed Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the paramilitary Basij force.
Two Iranian men have been charged with spying for Tehran over alleged surveillance of Jewish people in London.
Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, and Alireza Farasati, 22, were charged under the National Security Act on Wednesday, following a counter-terror police investigation.
They will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on Thursday.
The charges follow an investigation into “alleged surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in the London area”, the Metropolitan Police said.
Shahsavani, a dual British-Iranian national, and Farasati, an Iranian national, were detained on March 6.
They have been charged with “engaging in conduct that is likely to assist a foreign intelligence service”.
An Iranian proxy group claimed it would temporarily halt attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad if Israel stopped striking Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Kataib Hezbollah, a Hezbollah affiliate under direct command from Iran, said it would pause the attacks for five days if Israel ceased its assault on Dahieh, a known stronghold for the terror group.
Kataib Hezbollah is considered to be the most powerful militia in Iraq and is listed by the US as a designated global terrorist group.
Iranian proxy groups have frequently launched missile and drone attacks at the US embassy in Baghdad. On Tuesday night, a large blaze erupted after a suicide drone hit the grounds of the compound. Several other American diplomatic installations, including a facility at Baghdad airport and a consulate in Erbil, have also been targeted.
Israel conducted an intensive aerial campaign on central Beirut and the city’s southern suburbs early on Wednesday morning, leaving more than a dozen people dead.