Tehran: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first public speech since the ceasefire, said Iran has “crushed” the “Zionist enemy” and the United States, addressing the nation from inside a bunker in Tehran.
Ayatollah Khamenei, in a live defiant speech aired on state TV, congratulated Iranians and stated that the Islamic Republic had “crushed” Israel’s regime after days of attacks on it. “The Zionist regime has been practically uprooted and trampled under the blows of the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iran’s IRIB news on June 26. He further claimed that the US had “forgotten all about Syria, Golan, and Lebanon” and had joined the 12-day conflict “in fear that the Zionist regime faced total destruction”. “The US gained nothing from this war, and Iran delivered a harsh slap to America’s face,” he added.
The speech comes after the US- and Qatar-mediated ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced on June 23 by President Donald Trump, ending 12 days of heavy Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military facilities. According to The New York Times, Khamenei has been moved to a fortified bunker in Tehran recently after Iran’s intelligence reported “specific” threats of assassination by Israel or the US. Khamenei has rarely appeared in public since the Iran-Israel conflict started on June 13.
The Leader’s speech also repeated Khamenei’s X message on June 24, saying, “Those who know the Iranian people and their history know that the Iranian nation isn’t a nation that surrenders,” when Trump had earlier called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on June 22 amid the peak of the conflict. “A nation of 90 million stood united, with one voice, supporting the armed forces,” Khamenei said.
Iran’s threats to attack Israel were also repeated by Iranian military figures, who warned the US and Israel they could be attacked again for their “aggression” against Iran’s nuclear and military sites. Western media reported that Iran was only months away from developing a nuclear weapon after US officials leaked the contents of a recent CIA assessment to ABC News.
Israel’s military may also respond to the alleged Iranian threats of counterstrikes following the ceasefire. Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz (Ketz) has reportedly used strong words against Iran’s regime, tweeting on June 23, “Iran’s [Hashemi] Rafsanjani [regime] is a tornado that will go and is about to collapse. This round [of conflict] will not be the last round.” He was possibly referring to reports of Iran’s war preparations.
Over 585 were killed and 44 injured in Iran (239 civilians), while 24 were killed in Israel. Reports indicated that Iran planned to launch counterstrikes against Israel from inside Iraq using missiles and drones, which raised further concerns about trust following the ceasefire.
Khamenei’s post-ceasefire speech from a bunker, in which he claimed a crushing victory for the Islamic Republic and suggested that Iran was not willing to surrender to the US or Israel, occurs amidst significant destruction of Iran’s infrastructure caused by heavy Israeli bombardments, raising further concerns about the ceasefire’s stability. On Monday, diplomats held talks over the escalation between Iran and European ministers on June 26 in Geneva.