Khamenei says Iran will ‘never surrender’ to US

TEHRAN: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that Iran would “never surrender” to the United States, in his first remarks since a ceasefire in the war with Israel took hold.

“The American president indicated in one of his statements that Iran must surrender. Surrender! It is no longer a question of enrichment, nor of the nuclear industry, but of the surrender of Iran,” said Khamenei in a televised speech.

“Such an event (surrender) will never happen. It will never happen.”

MORE STRIKES ON US BASES

At the same time, the Iranian supreme leader threatened to carry out more strikes on US bases in the region if Iran came under another attack by the United States.

“The Islamic Republic has access to important US bases in the region and can act against them whenever it deems it necessary,” said Khamenei in a video message aired by state TV.

“It can happen again in the future; if an attack occurs, the cost to the enemy and the aggressor will certainly be high.”

On the other hand, Khamenei said Trump had sought to “minimise” the impact of Iran’s retaliatory strikes on a US base in Qatar.

Trump “tried… to pretend that nothing had happened, when a major event had occurred”, Khamenei said in a televised speech on state TV of Iran’s attack on Monday on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar – the largest US military facility in the Middle East.

NO SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO NUCLEAR SITES

He also said that “nothing significant” occurred to nuclear sites struck by the United States earlier this week, during a war with Israel.

“They attacked our nuclear facilities, which of course would merit criminal prosecution in international courts, but they did nothing significant,” Khamenei said.

Referring to Trump, who had claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, Khamenei said that he “exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration – anyone who has heard these words has understood that there is another truth behind these words”.

ISRAEL ‘ALMOST COLLAPSED’

In his speech, Khamenei also stated, “The Zionist regime [Israel] almost collapsed and was crushed under the strikes of the Islamic Republic.” The US had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the supreme leader in a message posted on X congratulated the people of Iran for the “victory” over Israel.