He was asked why he wouldn’t let “martyrdom-seeking youths” to go fight in Gaza. A student wondered aloud whether the “Zionist enemy” wouldn’t be encouraged to “murder senior figures in Tehran.”
Caricatures appearing in Arab and Turkish press made fun of the Iranian cat seeking a hole in which to hide.
Khamenei reached the “something-must-be-done” point that all leaders who need to appear to be doing something but lack the courage to do anything reach. The standard answer in such cases is to do something that appears to be what needs to be done but, in fact, is only a shadow.
This is how he did it:
First he ordered the High Council of National Security to hold a plenary session and “recommend” what to do. Thus, the decision to do something, in case that something had unintended consequences, wouldn’t be his alone. Next, he ordered preparation of big fireworks that would look impressive on TV.
His missile-man 1-star Gen. Hajizadeh, dreaming of a second star, hurried to assemble as many projectiles as he could: drones, rockets, medium-range missiles, hypersonic missiles and sundry other devices, and reported: Ready to go!
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Always Something: Not Your New Normal!! 