Iran leader Khamenei issues defiant statement, praises public resolve

Iran's supreme leader has issued another defiant written statement praising Iranians' steadfastness three weeks into the war launched by the United States and Israel. 

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Friday that US and Israeli attacks were based on an illusion that by killing top leaders they could cause the overthrow of the government. 

His written statement, marking the Persian New Year, Nowruz, was read on Iranian television. 

He commended Iranians for "building a nationwide defensive front and strongholds across cities, neighbourhoods, and mosques, delivering such a bewildering blow that the enemy fell into contradictions and irrational statements."  Khamenei has not been seen in public since succeeding his father, who was killed in strikes on the first day of the war. Israeli and US officials have said the younger Khamenei was wounded in those strikes.