Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday blamed regional tension and wars in the Middle East on “the United States and some European countries” who “falsely claim to bring peace and tranquility to the region.”

During a meeting he had today, Tuesday with a group of top officials and clerics in Tehran, he declared that Americans and Europeans should be “disappeared” from the region so that the countries of the region can live in peace, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.

“And the countries of the region can manage themselves, manage their region, live together in peace, health and prosperity,” he said.

Khamenei said he was “mourning” the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, but did not postpone his meeting with top officials because mourning in Iran is a “refreshing and motivating force”.

The order to launch missiles against Israel on Tuesday was given by the country’s supreme leader – who remains in a safe location, a senior Iranian official told Reuters news agency earlier.

Countdown to Israeli retaliation on Iran

The time for his retaliation is ticking down Israel after the 200-missile attack received on Tuesday night by the Iran.

Israeli officials, appearing poised for a regional war, told the Axios news website that Israel would launch “significant retaliation” to Tuesday’s massive Iranian missile attack within days, and could target oil production facilities inside Iran as well as other strategic locations such as nuclear facilities.

Israel and Iran have never been closer to opening a new and far more dangerous front in an already “burning” Middle East, reports Axios.

Iran threatened on Tuesday that if Israel responded forcefully to the nearly 200 rockets it fired on Tuesday, it would strike again.