Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei makes first public statement since Iran–Israel/US ceasefire

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel and said his country had “delivered a hand slap to America's face” on Thursday, 26 June, 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 19 June. He sat in front of plain brown curtains to give his address, similar to his June 19 message.

He told viewers that the US 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, the US “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 a reference to an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Qatar on Monday, 23 June, which caused no casualties.

The 86-year-old Khamenei hadn’t been seen in public since the outbreak of the war on 13 June, when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and targeted top military commanders and scientists. He had reportedly taken shelter at a secret location — one which POTUS Donald Trump claimed that the US was privy to, but that they would not try to kill him “yet”.

In his 19 June message, however, Khamenei effectively told his followers to disregard any threat to his life, stating: “My body holds little value, my life bears no significance. Even if they kill me, do not count it as our loss as long as you remain steadfast on the principles of Imam Hussain.”

Members of the US government and its allies have several times spoken of a ‘regime change’ in this context, and the scion of the former Shah of Iran also pitched in to call on Iranians to welcome him back after unseating Khamenei.

Of course, after its stated forbearance, the Donald Trump administration then followed Israel in an assault on Iran, with an American attack on 22 June hitting its nuclear sites with bunker-buster bombs.

US president Donald Trump then claimed to have negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which came into effect on Tuesday, 24 June — though with both sides having loosed weapons after the POTUS announcement.

Following today’s televised address, the Ayatollah also posted similar sentiments on X.

He spoke of the ‘Zionist regime’ of Israel having been “practically knocked out and crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic” despite "all that commotion and all those claims".

Khamenei had a warning for the US as well, posting, “The fact that the Islamic Republic has access to key US centers in the region and can take action whenever it deems necessary is a significant matter. Such an action can be repeated in the future too. Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price.”

In his televised address too, he referenced the counterattack and said, “The same media that exaggerated the US attack tried to downplay Iran’s response, but it was a significant event.”

Khamenei’s address and posts come in the wake of speculation of his continued residence in a ‘secret hideaway’ and remarks in the Israeli media and from its leaders ‘speculating’ that his days as a leader are numbered and that Khamenei is in a state of ‘mental anguish’. (Meanwhile, Netanyahu and Trump have both bought themselves reprieves from opponents back home with the war on Iran.)

Meanwhile, the White House, the CIA and US defence secretary Pete Hegseth repeated claims that the US and Israeli strikes had caused severe damage to Iran’s nuclear installations—a claim acknowledged by a foreign ministry spokesman in Tehran.

Khamenei, for his part, also accused the US of shifting goalposts in its public statements. Accusing the US of shifting goal posts, the Ayatollah said, “One day it’s about human rights, another day it’s about women’s rights, then it’s about the nuclear issue, then about the missiles.”

The US military action was never about nuclear issues or nuclear enrichment, however, he argued — but about Iran’s “surrender”, he said.

Donald Trump had revealed the truth — that America has been opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran from the very beginning, despite its ‘negotiations’ earlier in the month (before Israel killed Iran’s chief negotiator).

“This is no longer about uranium enrichment or nuclear programmes — it’s about demanding Iran’s complete capitulation. Such a demand is ridiculous. A country with Iran’s history, culture and steely national resolve will never surrender. Those who know the Iranian people understand that this is an insult,” Khamenei said.

Anyone listening to Donald Trump could tell the US were overstating things to distort the truth (of the impact of the Israel–US assault). “We attacked one of the US’s key bases in the region, and here, they tried to downplay it,” Khamenei also added.

Having begun with acknowledging the sacrifice of Iran’s martyrs, Khamenei went on to say, “We thank God for helping our armed forces, who were able to bypass [Israel’s] advanced multilayered defence systems and flatten many of their urban and military areas with our advanced weaponry. This proves that any aggression against Iran comes at a heavy cost for the aggressor. This victory belongs to our armed forces and our people who raised, supported and empowered them,” he asserted.

As for the US, he concluded, “The Iranian people must understand that America’s real issue is that it refuses to accept an independent, sovereign Iran. But surrender will never happen. Never.”

With AP/PTI inputs