Khamenei said Iran had triumphed over the US and downplayed the impact of the strikes on the country’s nuclear infrastructure
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sharply rebuked President Donald Trump’s call for Iran’s surrender. Taking to social media platform X, Khamenei wrote, “The US president said, ‘Iran must surrender.’ Needless to say, this statement is too big to come out of his mouth.”
In his first public remarks since the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday, Khamenei declared victory and dismissed Trump’s claims of a “spectacular military success.”
In a recorded video broadcast on Iranian state television, Khamenei said Iran had triumphed over the US and downplayed the impact of the strikes on the country’s nuclear infrastructure. The speech, lasting over 10 minutes, was later shared in part on X and was laced with warnings and threats directed at the US and Israel, Tehran’s longstanding adversaries.
“My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the US regime. The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed,” Khamenei said. He added, “It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing.”
Khamenei dismissed Trump’s claim that the strikes had “completely and fully obliterated Iran’s nuclear programme” as exaggerated. Absent from the address was any reference to the condition of Iran’s nuclear facilities or centrifuges following the extensive US and Israeli strikes.
‘Delivered slap to America’s face’, says Khamenei Khamenei also highlighted Iran’s missile strike on the US Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, calling it a symbolic but significant response. “The Islamic Republic delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face,” he said, warning that such actions could be repeated. “Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price,” he added.
On Wednesday, Trump claimed that officials from Washington and Tehran would hold talks next week, sparking cautious optimism for long-term peace. However, Iran has not confirmed any such meeting. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff however said there has been both direct and indirect communication between the two sides.
Talking to the reporters at Nato summit, Trump said the ceasefire was “going very well” and reiterated that Iran would neither acquire a nuclear bomb nor be allowed to continue uranium enrichment. Iran, however, remains defiant. Its parliament has voted to fast-track a proposal that would effectively end cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN watchdog that has monitored the country’s nuclear programme for years.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program during the weekend. US military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities early Sunday local time using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
The results of the strikes are being closely watched to see how far they may have set back Iran’s nuclear program.
“I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,” Hegseth told an often fiery news conference.
Trump, who watched the exchange with reporters, echoed his defence secretary, saying it would have taken too long to remove anything. “The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of (the) facility,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, without providing evidence.
Several experts have cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes, and could be hiding it in locations unknown to Israel, the US and UN nuclear inspectors. They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing “unusual activity” at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance to the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the 60 percent highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the attack.
The Financial Times, citing European intelligence assessments, reported that Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact since it was not concentrated at Fordow. Hegseth’s comments denying such claims came at the news briefing where he also accused journalists of downplaying the success of the US strikes following a leaked preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggesting they may have only set back Iran by months.
He said the assessment was low confidence, and, citing comments from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, said it had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged and would take years to rebuild.
