Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slunk out from a bunker Thursday to claim victory in a 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States, despite losing three nuclear facilities, more than a dozen nuclear scientists, and being forced to run and hide from Israeli and American strikes that decimated his illegal weapons program.
The 86-year-old radical Islamic leader appears tired and hoarse during his first public address since June 19, speaking in a recorded video broadcast on Iranian state television for the first time since Israel’s June 13 Operation Rising Lion.
“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” Khamenei said, referring to Iran’s failed attack Monday near a U.S. base in Qatar.
Khamenei’s claims of victory came despite acknowledging significant damage to Iran’s nuclear program. He downplayed Sunday’s devastating U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, saying President Donald Trump had “exaggerated” their impact.
“They could not achieve anything significant,” Khamenei said. “US hit nuclear sites but couldn’t achieve much.”
International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi contradicted Khamenei’s assessment, saying the damage to Iranian nuclear facilities “is very, very, very considerable.”
“I think annihilated is too much but it suffered enormous damage,” Grossi told French broadcaster RFI.
Iran’s own Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei conceded Wednesday that “our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure.”
Trump ordered seven B-2 bombers to drop bunker-busting bombs on the underground Fordow nuclear facility Sunday, while nuclear-capable submarines launched cruise missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan sites. Satellite images show extensive damage with holes in the ground from the bunker-buster strikes.
The attacks followed Israel’s initial June 13 air assault that dropped hundreds of bombs and missiles around Tehran and destroyed Iranian air defense systems. More than a dozen Iranian nuclear scientists were killed during the 12-day conflict.
Khamenei claimed the United States “felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.”
“It entered the war to save them, yet it gained nothing,” he said, claiming that Trump “needed to do showmanship.”
The supreme leader said that Iran’s attack on the U.S. base in Qatar demonstrated his country “has access to important U.S. centers in the region and can act against them whenever it deems necessary.”
“This action can be repeated in the future,” Khamenei said. “Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price.”
Trump negotiated a ceasefire that took effect Tuesday, though both sides briefly violated the agreement. Israel launched fighter jets toward Iran after Tehran fired missiles, but Trump ordered Israeli planes to return home.
“ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday morning.
“I think they both violated it,” Trump told reporters while traveling to the NATO summit, calling Israel’s response to Iran’s “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.
Iran has partially reopened its airspace for the eastern half of the country, and shops in Tehran have begun reopening as life gradually returns to normal.
Trump has asserted that American and Iranian officials will talk next week, though Iran has not confirmed such discussions. The United States and Qatar are attempting to bring Iran back to nuclear negotiations.
Iran’s parliament is fast-tracking a proposal that would effectively end cooperation with the IAEA, which has monitored the nuclear program for years. Iran has insisted it will not abandon its nuclear program despite the extensive damage to its facilities.