Iran’s so-called “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei emerged from exile Thursday to claim victory over Israel and said his country had “delivered a hand slap to America’s face” in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared in the war between the two countries.
AP reports Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first public appearance since June 19 and aside from his sweeping claims on social media.
Viewers were told the U.S. had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.”
But the Islamic dictator gloated the U.S. “achieved no gains from this war” even after seven USAF stealth bombers dropped 14 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities earlier this week.
“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” he said, in an oblique reference to an Iranian missile attack on America’s Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties or damage.
“Such an action can be repeated in the future too. Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war June 13 when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and targeted top military commanders and scientists, although promises of bloody revenge against the U.S. and Israel have never stopped.
