IRAN INTERNATIONAL -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei defended Iran's involvement in Syria's civil war and his policy of power projection in the region, dismissing criticism of the country’s diminishing influence in the Middle East.

“Some people, due to a lack of proper analysis and understanding, claim that with the recent events in the region, the blood shed in defense of the shrine was wasted,” Khamenei said in a Wednesday ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of former Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.

He was Iran’s most influential figure in coordinating armed allied groups in the region and was killed by the US in Iraq in 2020.