Iran’s supreme leader threw his support behind the elite Revolutionary Guards in a rare sermon on Friday after their belated admission that they had accidentally downed an airliner triggered days of street protests. In his first Friday prayers sermon for eight years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also told worshippers chanting “Death to America” that the elite Guards could take their fight beyond Iran’s borders after the U.S. killing of a top Iranian commander. U.S. President Donald Trump hit back later on Twitter, writing that Khamenei should be careful what he says. Khamenei’s address came amid a deepening crisis for Iran as it grapples with unrest at home and rising pressure from abroad. Tension has steadily ratcheted higher since 2018, when the United States withdrew from Tehran’s nuclear pact with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have hammered the economy. The standoff erupted into tit-for-tat military strikes this […]