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By Shane Croucher
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel and the U.S. in his first comments since the recent war ended with a ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump.
Khamenei also said Iran had delivered a "heavy slap to the U.S.'s face" by firing missiles at its Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and warned it against future attacks or "the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price." He accused the U.S. of seeking Iranian surrender above all else.
The Iranian leader played down the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities, accusing Trump of "exaggerating" the results of his strikes. No important damage had happened, Khamenei said, after Trump described it as "total obliteration".
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Israel and the U.S. struck the Iranian nuclear program hard, saying they destroyed key facilities to prevent Tehran from developing a bomb. Israel also hit Iranian military sites and killed dozens of key senior personnel, including nuclear scientists.
Operation Rising Lion, as the Israelis called it, with the addition of U.S. strikes against nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, delivered a powerful blow to the Iranian regime and exposed the weakness of the country's defenses.
Iran retaliated against Israel with missiles and drones, which were mostly intercepted, though some struck cities and caused deaths and destruction. But Tehran's response did not match what the Israeli strikes had achieved in Iran.
During the 12-day war, Khamenei took shelter as Israel bombed sites across Iran, including the capital Tehran. Trump warned Khamenei that the U.S. knew where he was hiding and the Iranian leader was an "easy target."
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Khamenei Claims Victory, Warns US
"I offer my congratulations on the victory over the fallacious Zionist regime," Khamenei posted to his English-language X account on Thursday ahead of the release of a video statement.
"With all that commotion and all those claims, the Zionist regime was practically knocked out and crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic."
Khamenei said the U.S. joined in striking Iran "because it felt that if it didn't, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed," saying that Washington had "achieved nothing" with its intervention.
"The Islamic Republic delivered a heavy slap to the U.S.'s face. It attacked and inflicted damage on the Al-Udeid Air Base, which is one of the key U.S. bases in the region," Khamenei said.
"The fact that the Islamic Republic has access to key U.S. 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."
Trump Says US-Iran Talks Due
Tehran said its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes, but it had stockpiles of uranium enriched to a level that far exceeded what was necessary and was a short step away from weapons-grade.
Trump said the U.S. and Iran are due to hold fresh talks about the nuclear issue. He said Iran cannot rebuild its facilities or enrich uranium, and that he would act again militarily if he saw the need. He urged Iran to pursue peace, diplomacy and trade instead.
"We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran," Trump said at the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday. "We may sign an agreement. I don't know."
On Thursday, Iran's Guardian Council said it had approved its parliament's move to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, which had monitored its facilities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed a day before that the attacks will have "serious and profound effects on the course of the nuclear program," adding: "We need to rethink how we protect our nuclear facilities."
Israel, Iran Assess Nuclear Damage
The Israel Atomic Energy Commission backed Trump's assessment of the damage done to the Iranian nuclear site at Fordow, saying the U.S. strike "destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable."
Separately, Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told Al Jazeera that "our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure" by the U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Trump had said the strike resulted in "total obliteration" of the Fordow facility, which is deep underground inside a mountain. That characterization was called into question by a leaked U.S. intelligence report, but the White House called the early assessment false.
"We assess that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran's military nuclear program, has set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years," said the statement from the Israeli commission.
"The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material."
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had also shared an assessment that Iran's nuclear facilities suffered significant damage as a result of the Israeli and American strikes and that Tehran's nuclear program has been set back by years.
Rafael Grossi, director of the IAEA, told French broadcaster RFI on Thursday that the Iranian nuclear program had suffered "enormous damage" and that the centrifuges at Fordow are no longer operational.
Update, 6/26/25, 8:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional comments by Khamenei.
Update, 6/26/25, 8:27 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comments by Rafael Grossi.
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