Iran · 07 June, 2026 · 2 min read
Ali Akbar Velayati Says Iran’s Missile Launchers Are Ready After Israeli Strike on Beirut
Ali Akbar Velayati says missile launchers are ready. The statements followed Israeli strikes on Beirut.
How the threat is described (specific retaliatory readiness vs. broader pressure framing).
3 of 4 outlets skipped it: sabq reports Trump offered money to curb the attack..
Al Jazeera was read line by line by the Watchdog: 2.9. See the score →
23outlets compared
Same story, two versions
tap a side to read it in full
Shifts emphasis from imminent capability to coercive economic leverage.
Zero hour and readiness
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s adviser Ali Akbar Velayati said the “zero hour has arrived” and that missile launchers are “ready” after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“zero hour has arrived" and missile launchers are "ready”
Breakingthenews.net quoted Velayati writing on X that “zero hour has arrived” and that missile launchers are “ready,” adding that “The miscalculation in Beirut ended patience, and the order was given.”B
Mehr News Agency reported that Velayati wrote on his social networking website account on Sunday evening that “The zero hour has arrived and the launchers are getting ready.”
In the same set of statements, Velayati warned that if “the fire of mischief in Lebanon is not extinguished,” the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab would “squeeze your economic arteries to the point of strategic suffocation.”
Threats tied to shipping chokepoints
Velayati’s warnings tied Iran’s posture to maritime chokepoints, saying the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb would “choke your economic arteries to the point of strategic asphyxiation.”
كل العرب said Velayati wrote on X that “Zero hour is approaching, and missile launchers are ready,” and repeated his threat that the straits would “choke your economic arteries to the point of strategic asphyxiation.”
صحيفة سبق الإلكترونية said Velayati wrote on X in four languages — Persian, Arabic, English, and Turkish — that “We have run out of patience due to miscalculation in Beirut; the decision has been issued, the zero hour has approached, and the missiles are ready.”ص
The same صحيفة سبق الإلكترونية account also quoted Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr threatening Israel, saying “The response of the soldiers of Islam is coming.”ص
Axis of resistance and next moves
Mehr News Agency framed Velayati’s message by saying “Hezbollah is a fragment of the Axis of Resistance,” and warned that Lebanon is not alone in the face of Israeli aggression on Beirut.
“Hezbollah is a fragment of the Axis of Resistance”
Breakingthenews.net said Velayati repeated previous threats that the vital strait between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa would be closed to shipping, and it described Tehran as already indicating it would launch a missile attack on Israel in response.B
صحيفة سبق الإلكترونية added that the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, said “the red lines of the Islamic Republic will not be violated,” while also describing an Iranian hacking group Hanzala urging people to head to shelters.ص
In the same account, صحيفة سبق الإلكترونية said Iranian officials claimed “The U.S. صPresident Donald Trump offered us money to curb the attack; we rejected that and we will respond very soon; we will not betray our people.”