Iran’s aging Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, emerged from hiding on Thursday making his first public statement since June 19.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, 86-year-old, remarks came during a carefully staged broadcast on state television—his first public statement and appearance since June 19 and days after President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire that ended the 12-day conflict.
Khamenei, visibly more frail and fatigued than in previous speeches, attempted to spin the narrative in Tehran’s favor. He asserted that the U.S. only entered the conflict to prevent Israel from being, in his words, “utterly destroyed.”
But he quickly followed that up by claiming Washington “achieved no gains from this war,” despite the precision American strikes that obliterated Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan nuclear facilities.
“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” Khamenei declared, referencing Iran’s weak missile attack on a U.S. base in Qatar earlier this week—a response that reportedly caused no casualties and appeared to be coordinated in advance to avoid serious repercussions.
Khamenei’s appearance was notable not only because he had vanished from public view since Israel’s June 13 preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, but also because his