Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that American strikes destroyed Iran’s nuclear sites, calling them false and “bullying.”
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday dismissed as false recent claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that American forces destroyed Iran’s nuclear sites during joint strikes with Israel in June.
In a statement published on his official website, Khamenei told Trump to “keep dreaming” and questioned the U.S. president’s authority “to say what a country should or should not have if it possesses a nuclear industry.”
Trump had told Israeli lawmakers at the Knesset last week that U.S. strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities, describing the operation as “the most beautiful military operation.”
In a Fox News interview, he added that the action meant “Iran no longer became the bully of the Middle East.”
However, the Pentagon said the strikes only delayed Iran’s nuclear programme by up to two years, contradicting U.S. intelligence estimates that suggested the setback was only for a few months.
Khamenei called Trump’s remarks “improper, wrong, and bullying,” as tensions between Tehran and Washington continue to escalate following the collapse of nuclear talks originally scheduled to resume in June.