TEHRAN, Oct. 02 (MNA) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the root cause of the West Asia region's problems is the presence of the United States and a number of European countries falsely claiming to advocate peace.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received a group of Iranian elites, and top scientific figures in Imam Khomeini Hussainia on Wednesday.

The meeting took place hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired a massive barrage of long-range missiles at the Israeli-occupied territories in reprisal for the illegal entity’s recent assassination of the top leaders and commanders of the resistance front.

"I will soon talk about the issues of Gaza and Lebanon," Ayatollah Khamenei said in this meeting.

Regional problems stem from the presence of the United States and some European countries who are false claimants of peace and tranquility, the Leader said.

If they withdraw this region, without a doubt, these conflicts, wars, and clashes will disappear completely, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, adding, "And the countries of the region can manage themselves, manage their region, live together in peace, health, and well-being."

The United States and its western allies have been providing Israel with unstinting support in the realms of finance, logistics and intelligence since October last year, when the occupying regime launched a merciless war on Palestinians in Gaza.

As part of its vicious attempts to expand the scope of war to other fronts across the region, Israel embarked on indiscriminate bombings of southern regions in Lebanon and targeted killings of the Hezbollah resistance movement's senior officials and commanders as well as Iranian military advisors in Syria and Lebanon.

The IRGC's operation on Tuesday night was carried out in response to the barbaric acts of assassination against the leaders of resistance, not least Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and the military commanders of the IRGC and the Lebanese resistance movement.

Dubbed Operation True Promise 2, the military campaign involved the launch of a barrage of more than 180 long-range missiles that, as the elite force announced in a statement, successfully hit "90 percent" of the designated targets, including the “strategic Israeli centers” in the occupied territories.

The headquarters of Israel's Mossad spy agency and the regime’s Nevatim airbase that houses its F-35 warplanes were among the targeted sites by the IRGC.

MNA/