Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, met Wednesday evening with a number of students. Speaking at the meeting, His Eminence stated that the Zionist regime should be annihilated so that the people of Palestine can be liberated from its crimes, further reiterating: "Annihilating the Zionist regime does not mean massacring the Jewish people in the region. The logical statement that our Magnanimous Imam (r.a.) made - that Israel should be annihilated - is based on a human principle. We presented to the world the practical solution for this and no one could criticize it in a reasonable way. We said that a poll and a referendum should be conducted so that the people who live in, come from and belong to this region determine who should rule over it. We said that the people should resolve this issue."

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution referred to America's role in the massacre of the people of Gaza, stressing: "We should preserve this as an important experience for ourselves and we should know America. This is liberal democracy. This will and should influence our actions, our judgment and our behavior. This is the camp - that is to say, the government of the United States of America and its followers - that has stood up against the Islamic Republic today and that has challenged the Islamic Republic in different events. This is the truth about them. The truth about them is this: not only do they not show any sensitivity about the massacre of human beings and defenseless people but they also defend and support oppressors and perpetrators of appalling and great crimes - such as what is happening in Gaza today."