Iran’s supreme leader has called for the execution of Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.
“An arrest warrant for Netanyahu is not enough – he should be sentenced to execution” over alleged war crimes, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared on Monday.
Addressing a group of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps generals and Basij militia forces in Tehran, he said: “This is a war crime – the enemy has not achieved victory in Gaza or Lebanon.”
Khamenei added: “Bombing civilians’ homes in Gaza and Lebanon is not a victory.” It came as members of the meeting chanted: “Death to America”, “Death to Israel” and “Death to England”.
“The fools should not think that just because they bomb people’s homes, hospitals, and communities, they have won,” he said. “No, nobody considers this a victory.”
On Thursday, the ICC accused the Israeli prime minister, along with Yoav Gallant, Mr Netanyahu’s former defence secretary, and Mohammed Deif, a Hamas commander, of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The move means that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant are now at risk of being arrested in any of the 124 countries who are members of the Hague-based court.
Israel claimed Deif was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July, however, the ICC could not confirm this and so issued its arrest warrant.
Britain said it respects the court and ministers have refused to say if Mr Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to the UK.
Germany signalled it would not detain the Israeli leader because of its Nazi past and special relationship with the Jewish state, despite being a member of the ICC.
Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, pledged to defy the order to arrest Mr Netanyahu and instead invited him for a state visit.
As well as calling for the death penalty for Mr Netanyahu, Khamenei also claimed that Iran’s proxies across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, are growing in strength as he vowed to “destroy” Israel.
“Today, the resistance front is expanding, and tomorrow, this expansion will multiply several times,” he said, despite Israeli assassinations of senior terror leaders in recent months and reports that Israel and Hezbollah are nearing a possible ceasefire.
Iranians on social media, although risking possible reprisals for their posts, criticised Mr Khamenei’s “thirst for execution”.
“How disgusting is this perspective that [he] only knows the language of execution,” one user reacted to his remarks on X.
“Who will order your execution sentence,” said another.
In October, at least 166 people were hanged in Iran, the highest monthly figure in over 20 years, according to the Iran Human Rights organisation.
