Iran’s foreign minister also traveled to Beirut as Israel struck the city’s suburbs and expanded the areas it ordered residents to flee.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivering a rare Friday sermon in Arabic, defended this week's missile attack on Israel that deepened fears of a regional war and praised allies' defiance.

In his first public appearance since Iran's attack on Israel, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that the Islamic Republic is undeterred in its efforts against the Jewish state and other Western democracies.