Khamenei says Trump administration ‘not worthy of being approached’ by Iran
Ayatollah claims US and Israeli strikes failed to achieve their goals, calls to preserve wartime ‘public unity’ exhibited even by people who have ‘differences with the system’
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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that the administration of US President Donald Trump was “not worthy” of contact or cooperation with Tehran.
“Such a government is not worthy of being approached or cooperated with by a government like the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said in a televised speech, rejecting rumors that Iran had sent messages to Washington as a “pure lie.”
His remarks came on the occasion of a state-designated day celebrating the Basij forces, a paramilitary force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Khamenei said the United States and Israel had failed “to achieve any objectives” during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24, two days after the US carried out extraordinary strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities. The war derailed US-Iran nuclear talks that had begun in April.
During his speech, Khamenei praised Iran’s “public unity” during the war, saying “even those who had differences with the system stood by it.”
This unity, he said, “must be preserved and appreciated,” he added.
Khamenei previously said Israel’s attacks during the war had sought to weaken the Islamic Republic, sow “unrest and bring people into the streets to overthrow the system.”
Since the war, Trump has repeatedly said the US strikes obliterated Iran’s nuclear program, but the full extent of the damage remains unknown.
The Pentagon has said the strikes delayed Iran’s nuclear program by between one and two years, contradicting an initial classified US intelligence report that, according to American media, found the setback was only a few months.
Khamenei has previously rebuffed Trump’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program had been destroyed, telling him to “keep dreaming.”
Iran, whose leaders aim to destroy Israel, denies seeking nuclear weapons, but has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.
The Times of Israel Community.