Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East, in his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel was declared.
The 86-year-old, who has not been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war on 13 June, said his country had “delivered a slap to America’s face” – a reference to an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.
He also claimed that the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites “did not achieve anything” and Donald Trump had “exaggerated” their impact.
Read more: Pakistan’s Covert ICBM Development Could Extend Nuclear Reach Over 10,000 km
In pre-recorded remarks that were aired on state television, he hailed his country’s “victory” over Israel and vowed never to surrender to the US.
As was also the case with his last comments, released more than a week ago during the 12-day Israeli bombardment, he spoke from an undisclosed indoor location in front of a brown curtain, between an Iranian flag and a portrait of his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini.
In a message to the Iranian people, he said Trump’s demand for Iran’s unconditional surrender at the start of the conflict had revealed the US’s true agenda.
“The fact that the Islamic republic has access to important American centres in the region and can take action against them whenever it deems necessary is not a small incident, it is a major incident, and this incident can be repeated in the future if an attack is made,” he said. “America entered the war directly because it felt that if it did not, Israel would be completely destroyed. Here, too, the Islamic republic emerged victorious.”
His interpretation of the war’s outcome – designed for a domestic audience – was predictably patriotic, but also suggested Iran’s battered leadership is not yet in the mood to move on from the hollowing out of its military leadership by Israel and the unprecedented US-Israeli aerial attack on its nuclear sites.
It came against the backdrop of a row in the US over the extent of the damage inflicted by the American strikes.
On Thursday, Iran’s Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation, approved a bill passed near unanimously by parliament 24 hours earlier suspending all cooperation with the UN’s nuclear inspectorate, the IAEA.
Under the terms of the legislation, cooperation will be restored only when two bodies – Iran’s atomic energy authority and the supreme national security council – notify parliament that conditions have been met, including a guarantee that its nuclear facilities are safe, and recognised as peaceful.
Read more: Trump Slams Zohran Mamdani as “Communist Lunatic” After NYC Primary Win
France demanded that Iran return to the path of dialogue. The German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, urged cooperation with the IAEA, saying the move sent “a very bad signal”. The IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi, condemned the vote, saying: “Iran’s cooperation with [the agency] is not a favour, it is a legal obligation, as long as Iran remains a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).”
Steve Witkoff, a US special envoy, has said he is willing to resume talks on the future of cooperation with Iran in Oman next week.
But in an interview on state TV, foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said that Iran had no plans to hold talks with the US, and was assessing whether further diplomatic contact with Washington was in its interest.
Iranian officials may need time to assess whether they will be negotiating to retain a completely theoretical right to enrich uranium, since in practice it no longer has any enrichment capability, or whether in fact the facilities survived the joint US-Israeli assault and could be revived.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, a foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, repeatedly avoided describing the state of the country’s nuclear programme, before saying: “Our nuclear facilities have been severely damaged, that is certain.”
He admitted a debate was under way over whether the country should leave the NPT, since it had not provided the intended protections. Arguably, the suspension of all cooperation with the UN nuclear inspectorate already puts Iran outside the NPT.
If a state announces its withdrawal, that notification comes into effect after three months, at which time the safeguards agreement, and the legal basis for IAEA inspections, lapses as well.
Iran is furious that so few western countries have said the Israeli attack was in breach of international law and cannot be justified as an act of self-defence under the UN charter.
Trump has announced he is lifting some US sanctions to allow Iran to increase oil exports to China, a goodwill gesture ahead of the planned talks.
Khamenei made no reference to the possible restart of talks and instead accused Trump of revealing that his real objective had been Iran’s surrender, something he vowed would never happen.
Sébastien Lecornu, France’s defence minister, said the the country’s military participated in intercepting drones launched by Iran toward Israel before the ceasefire was established.
Lecornu said on Wednesday: “I confirm that the French military, using ground-to-air systems or Rafale fighter jets, intercepted fewer than 10 drones during various military operations by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Israel.”
He claimed Iran launched approximately 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones toward Israel over 12 days.