In his first comments since the ceasefire, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US ‘gained no achievement’ when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran
Iran’s supreme leader says his country “delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face” in his first public comments since the country’s ceasefire with Israel brokered by the US.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that the US “gained no achievement” when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran, his account said in a post on X.
He said:
The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing.
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.
Tehran struck a US military base in Qatar on Monday. The attack was seen by the US as being an attempt to respond to the US’s weekend bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites without escalating the situation.
Donald Trump responded by calling the Iranian attack “very weak” and claimed to have intercepted 13 of 14 missiles fired.
In a post on X after the attack, the Qatari foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari added that “Qatar’s air defenses successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles” and there had been no casualties.
The supreme leader says Iran has access to “key” US bases in the region and could take action “whenever it deems necessary”.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US would “pay a heavy price” if any aggression occurred.
He said in a post on X:
The fact that the Islamic Republic has access to key US centers in the region and can take action whenever it deems necessary is a significant matter.
Such an action can be repeated in the future too. Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price.
Iran’s supreme leader says his country “delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face” in his first public comments since the country’s ceasefire with Israel brokered by the US.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that the US “gained no achievement” when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran, his account said in a post on X.
He said:
The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing.
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.
Tehran struck a US military base in Qatar on Monday. The attack was seen by the US as being an attempt to respond to the US’s weekend bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites without escalating the situation.
Donald Trump responded by calling the Iranian attack “very weak” and claimed to have intercepted 13 of 14 missiles fired.
In a post on X after the attack, the Qatari foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari added that “Qatar’s air defenses successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles” and there had been no casualties.
The Guardian has published an article on Gaza City’s main high street, Omar al-Mukhtar street, which has been largely destroyed by the Israel-Gaza war.
However, Palestinian memories of life before the ongoing Israeli assault survive.
As those in Gaza face bombing, starvation and miserable living conditions, individuals still try to hold both the past and the present in their minds.
You can read the full article here: A street in Gaza, a map of dreams, and the people desperate to live
An update has been issued on the number of deaths in Gaza on Thursday, with rescuers in the area saying Israeli forces killed 35 people in the territory, including four who they said were waiting to collect aid.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Defence agency, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 35 people were killed by Israeli fire in various locations throughout the Gaza Strip.
They included “four who were waiting for humanitarian aid,” he added.
The military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment, saying it required further information.
Local health authorities said earlier on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday said Gaza was in a “catastrophic situation of genocide” and urged the EU to immediately suspend its cooperation deal with Israel, Reuters reports.
Speaking to reporters before an EU summit in Brussels, Sanchez mentioned a recent human rights report by the bloc’s diplomatic service which, he said, addressed “the catastrophic situation of genocide unfolding in Gaza”.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has offered his congratulations on the “victory” over Israel, his account said on X.
The account added that he will speak within the next few minutes in a video message, his first message since Washington announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
More details soon…
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said there were “hopeful signs” of US-Iran talks after president Donald Trump said they would take place next week, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
“We are directing all our diplomatic efforts towards finding a binding agreement as soon as possible,” Wadephul said, during a joint news conference with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand.
He added that the so-called E3 grouping of Britain, France and Germany would “play a central role” in any talks and that “Iran expressly wants a European component”.
The comments came after Wadephul called a vote by Iranian lawmakers calling for a suspension of cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog “a totally wrong signal”
According to Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the International Atomic Energy Agency “refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities” and had “put its international credibility up for auction”.
The decision of the Iranian parliament still requires the approval of Iran’s Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation.
Here are some of the latest photos of Gaza City coming through on the wires:
Germany on Thursday urged Iran to keep cooperating with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, calling a vote by Iranian lawmakers calling for a suspension of cooperation “a totally wrong signal”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Iran’s parliament unanimously agreed to a bill on Wednesday to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear inspectorate, making it harder for an independent expert assessment to be made about the degree of damage inflicted on Iran’s three key nuclear sites by the joint US and Israeli bombing.
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul told a press conference that Germany “urges the Iranian government not to go down this path”.
Members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet have praised Donald Trump’s call to cancel the Israeli prime minister’s corruption trial.
The US president said on Wednesday night he had “just learned that Bibi has been summoned to court on Monday” and also suggested a pardon for the “great hero”.
Miki Zohar, Israel’s culture minister, called the trial “absurd” and said Netanyahu would go down as “one of the greatest leaders in history”.
He said in a post on X:
President Trump is right – it is time to overturn the trial!
The president of the world’s greatest power, and a true friend of the Jewish people, Donald Trump, is voicing what many Israeli citizens feel in their hearts – particularly and especially in the midst of historic days in the country’s history.
Shlomo Karhi, the country’s communications minister, shared Trump’s post supporting Netanyahu and said he would like to see the Israeli prime minister “crush the political prosecution in court”.
Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Trump was “absolutely right” and said an “urgent reform” was needed to the country’s legal system