In his first public appearance since June 19, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed on Thursday, June 26, that Iran emerged victorious in the recent conflict with Israel. Speaking through a video broadcast on Iranian state television, Khamenei stated that the United States intervened in the war solely out of fear that the “Zionist regime would be completely destroyed” without their support.

However, he asserted that Washington gained nothing from its involvement. “I believe it is important to extend several congratulations to the great Iranian nation. First, congratulations on the victory over the false Zionist regime. Despite all its noise and claims, the Zionist regime was nearly brought to its knees and crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic,” Ayatollah Khamenei remarked.

“The US entered the war directly because it feared that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be entirely destroyed,” he continued, adding that it intervened to save them but “gained nothing from the war.” Commenting on US President Donald Trump’s statements following Iran’s retaliation to American strikes, Ayatollah Khamenei said the bravado was a facade for failure.

“Anyone who listened to his remarks could sense that behind those words lay a very different truth,” he noted. “They failed to achieve their goals, and they exaggerated their claims to hide the reality,” he concluded.