Supreme Leader, in first appearance since ceasefire, says Iran would strike back if attacked

TEHRAN: Iran would respond to any future U.S. attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday, in his first televised remarks since a ceasefire was reached between Iran and Israel.

Khamenei, 86, claimed victory after 12 days of war, culminating in an Iranian attack on the largest U.S. base in the region, located in Qatar, after Washington joined the Israeli strikes.

“The Islamic Republic slapped America in the face. It attacked one of the important American bases in the region,” Khamenei said.

As in his last comments, released more than a week ago during the 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.

IRAN WILL NOT SURRENDER

In his pre-recorded remarks, aired on state television, Khamenei promised that Iran would not surrender despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls.

“The U.S. President Trump unveiled the truth and made it clear that Americans won’t be satisfied with anything less than surrender… such an event will never happen,” Khamenei said.

“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 added.

Trump said “sure” on Wednesday when asked if the United States would strike again if Iran rebuilt its nuclear enrichment programme. Tehran has for decades denied accusations by Western leaders that it is seeking nuclear arms.

NO GAIN

Khamenei said the U.S. “gained no achievement” after it attacked Iranian nuclear sites, but that it entered the war to “save” Israel after Tehran’s missiles broke through Israel’s multi-layered defence system.

“The U.S. directly entered the war as it felt that if it did not get involved, the Zionist regime (Israel) would be fully destroyed. It entered the war to save it,” he said.

“The U.S. attacked our nuclear facilities, but couldn’t do any important deed… The U.S. president did abnormal showmanship and needed to do so,” he added.

Trump said over the weekend that the U.S. deployment of 30,000-pound bombs had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme. However, this appeared to be contradicted by an initial assessment from one of his administration’s intelligence agencies, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also declared “a historic victory” on Tuesday, after the fragile ceasefire took effect, saying Israel had achieved its goal of removing Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threat.

Shortly after Khamenei’s speech, Netanyahu posted a message with a picture of himself and Trump holding hands with the message: “We will continue to work together to defeat our common enemies.”