Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei makes first public statement since ceasefire declared in Israel-Iran war

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel on Thursday (June 26, 2025) in his first public statement since a ceasefire was declared in the war between the two countries.

Mr. 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.

Following a massive American attack on June 22 that hit the nuclear sites with bunker-buster bombs, U.S. President Donald Trump was able to help negotiate a ceasefire that came into effect on Tuesday.

Mr. Khameni did release a video message on June 19 during the war, and Iranian state television and the supreme leader’s own social media pages announced that he would be releasing another video message to Iran on Thursday.

In his first comment posted on X, he offered his “congratulations on the victory” over Israel. He said his country ‘delivered a hand slap to America’s face’ in first appearance since ceasefire. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that the U.S. “gained no achievement” when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran, his account said in a posting on X. He warned that the U.S. “will definitely pay a heavy price” should it attack Iran again.

The comments came in the wake of an attack on Sunday in which American forces hit three Iranian nuclear facilities with bunker-buster bombs and cruise missiles.

Iran retaliated on Monday with a missile attack on a U.S. base in nearby Qatar, but caused no casualties.

In an apparent reference to the attack, Mr. Khamenei says “such an action can be repeated in the future, too,” saying that Iran has “access to key U.S. centers in the region and can take action whenever it deems necessary.”

He told viewers that 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 he said, however, that the U.S. “achieved no gains from this war.”

“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” he said, in apparent reference to an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.