Tehran [Iran], June 27 : Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a scathing response to former US President Donald Trump’s call for Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” labeling the statement as “too big to come out of his mouth.”
Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Khamenei remarked,
“The US President stated, ‘Iran must surrender.’ Needless to say, this statement is too big to come out of the US president’s mouth.”
His comments come in the wake of Operation Midnight Hammer, a US-led airstrike targeting three key Iranian nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan — which the Pentagon claimed was aimed at “severely degrading Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure.”
Despite Trump hailing the strikes as a “spectacular military success” and asserting they had “obliterated Iran’s nuclear program,” Khamenei dismissed the claims, stating the US gained nothing from its aggression.
“My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the US regime. The US entered the war directly because it feared the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed,” said Khamenei in a ten-minute televised speech.
He continued:
“It entered the war to save that regime but achieved nothing.”
The confrontation is part of an escalating conflict that began on June 13 when Israel initiated Operation Rising Lion, a large-scale airstrike against Iranian military and nuclear facilities. Iran responded with Operation True Promise 3, launching missiles and drones at Israeli infrastructure.
Trump, in a Saturday address from the White House, warned of harsher consequences if Iran refuses to negotiate:
“There will be either peace or tragedy for Iran far greater than what we’ve witnessed over the last eight days. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all — and perhaps the most lethal. If peace does not come quickly, we will go after the remaining targets with precision, speed, and skill.”
Khamenei’s remarks reflect Iran’s defiance in the face of growing military and diplomatic pressure. As the standoff deepens, global attention remains fixed on whether diplomacy can prevail or if the region is headed for broader escalation.