Iran's new Supreme Leader pledges revenge for slain father

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on Saturday that avenging his slain predecessor and father was "the demand of the nation" and "must certainly" take place, according to a written message released on his Telegram account.

Khamenei issued the message on the occasion of funeral ceremonies for his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, held months after he was killed in the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.

"We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers," Khamenei said in the message.

-Reporting by Enas Alashray and Ahmed Elimam;Editing by Tomasz Janowski/Reuters