Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said the United States did hit Tehran’s nuclear sites but ‘didn’t achieve much’, decrying what he called Donald Trump’s ‘showmanship’.#MukTv
Khamenei also claimed victory over Israel and said his country had ‘delivered a hand slap to America’s face’ on Thursday, in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared in the war between the two countries.
Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first appearance since June 19.
He told viewers that the U.S. had only intervened in the war because ‘it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.’
But he said, however, that the U.S. ‘achieved no gains from this war.
‘The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,’ he said, in apparent reference to an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.
The supreme leader also declared victory over Israel, despite scores of top officials and nuclear scientists being assassinated by Iran’s arch enemy over the course of the 12-day conflict.
Both Iran and Israel had already claimed they won the short-lived confrontation, the deadliest and most destructive in their shared history, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailing on it a ‘historic victory’ for Israel.
Khamenei broke his silence on the US strikes in a video broadcast on Iranian state television from his bunker hideout, his first appearance since June 19 and first public comments since a ceasefire was declared.
He taunted Israel by saying that the US had only decided to join the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan because ‘it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.’
He repeated his previous declaration that surrender to the US would ‘never happen’ and boasted that America had ‘achieved no gains from this war.’
‘The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,’ he claimed, in apparent reference to an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.
Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war June 13 when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and targeted top military commanders and scientists.
Following a massive American attack on June 22 that hit the nuclear sites with bunker-buster bombs, Trump was able to help negotiate a ceasefire that came into effect on Tuesday.
Khamenei released a video message during the war, and Iranian state television and the supreme leader’s own social media pages announced that he would be releasing another video message to Iran on Thursday.
In his first comment posted on X earlier, he offered his ‘congratulations on the victory’ over Israel.
Shortly after Khamenei delivered his speech, Netanyahu shared a statement saying he would continue to work with President Trump to ‘defeat our common enemies, free our hostages, and quickly expand the circle of peace’.
The Israeli leader posted the message with a picture of himself and Trump holding hands, alongside his statement and an earlier post by the US leader saying they had ‘been through hell together.’
Speaking at a Pentagon press conference today, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth hailed the strike as ‘historic’ and one which ‘created the conditions to end the 12-day war’.
Read more Iran’s supreme leader says ‘US hit nuclear sites but couldn’t achieve much’
