Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, delivered a rare sermon at Friday prayers, in which he said Iran’s strikes against Israel this week were “totally legal and legitimate.” Israeli strikes cut off a key border crossing between Lebanon and Syria,

But even as he did so, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was in Beirut, appearing eager to convey Iran’s readiness to support a joint cease-fire in Lebanon and in Gaza. The contrasting diplomacy and defiance spotlighted Iran’s efforts to assert its regional power while limiting damage to its land and people.