Iran dealt 'a heavy slap to America's face', Khamenei says

Supreme leader says US 'achieved nothing' when it joined war in support of Israel

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran could strike US bases in the Middle East again if provoked. AFP

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday the US had “achieved nothing” after it joined the war to support Israel, and that Tehran had delivered “a heavy slap to the US’s face”.

“The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed,” Mr Khamenei said in his first speech since the war with Israel. “It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing,” he said.

“The Islamic republic delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face. It attacked and inflicted damage on the Al Udeid Air Base, which is one of the key US bases in the region,” he claimed in his first public statement since a ceasefire ended 12 days of war on Tuesday. Qatar said it shot down 18 of the 19 missiles launched at the US base it hosts, with one falling at the base which had already been emptied.

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The Iranian attack on the base was in retaliation for the US striking two nuclear facilities in Iran with massive bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile from a submarine struck a third. Mr Khamenei threatened to attack US bases in the region if Tehran is attacked again.

“The fact that the Islamic republic has access to key US centres in the region and can take action whenever it deems necessary is a significant matter,” he said. “Such an action can be repeated in the future too. Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price,” he added.

The supreme leader also hailed his country's “victory” over Israel. “I want to congratulate the great Iranian nation ... for its victory over the fallacious Zionist regime,” he said. “With all that commotion and all those claims, the Zionist regime was practically knocked out and crushed under the blows of the Islamic republic,” he said.

Israel and the US have also claimed victory in the war, claiming to have destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities. Mr Trump said the unprecedented American attacks had resulted in the “total obliteration” of Iran's nuclear capabilities, and said they had set the country's programme back “decades”.

But leaked US intelligence cast doubt on that assessment, saying the strikes had probably set Tehran back by just a few months. “They're not going to be building bombs for a long time,” said Trump, adding the strikes had set back the programme by “decades” and that the ceasefire he had declared was going “very well”.

Israel's military said Wednesday it was “still early” to assess the damage the war caused to Iran's nuclear programme.

“I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear programme, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years,” said Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei acknowledged to Al Jazeera that its “nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure”.

The supreme leader's rhetoric about the US was in stark contrast to Mr Trump's approach to the future of relations. He said on Wednesday that the US would hold nuclear talks with Iran next week, teasing the possibility of a deal even after boasting that recent US strikes had destroyed Iran's atomic programme.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said on Tuesday that his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that it would continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic energy.