Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel and stated his nation had “delivered a hand slap to America’s face” on Thursday, in his first public feedback since a ceasefire was declared within the battle between the 2 international locations.
Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state tv, his first look since June 19, wanting and sounding extra drained than he did solely every week in the past.
He instructed viewers that the U.S. had solely intervened within the battle as a result of “it felt that if it didn’t intervene, the Zionist regime can be totally destroyed.”
However he stated, nonetheless, that the U.S. “achieved no positive aspects from this battle.”
“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” he stated, in obvious reference to an Iranian missile assault on an American base in Qatar on Monday, which prompted no casualties.
The 86-year-old Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the battle June 13 when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear amenities and focused high navy commanders and scientists.
Following an American assault on June 22 that hit the nuclear websites with bunker-buster bombs, U.S. President Donald Trump was in a position to assist negotiate a ceasefire that got here into impact on Tuesday.
In his look on Thursday, he sat in entrance of plain brown curtains to provide his deal with, just like his June 19 message.
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