Major-General Amir Hatami, commander of Iran’s army, says the notion that the government would fall after the series of assassinations that the US and Israel carried out at the beginning of their war was a “miscalculation by the enemy,” Al Jazeera reports.

Hatami specifically highlighted the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on February 28, the first day of the war.

He was quoted as saying by state-run media: “Yet it was under this flag that everyone stood firm — soldiers and commanders alike.

“Through their presence and steadfastness, the Iranian nation inspired the armed forces, defeated the enemy’s scheme to incite chaos and bolstered the country’s officials in the political, social and economic arenas.”