Khamenei tells Trump to ‘keep dreaming’ US strikes destroyed Iran’s nuclear sites

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday told US President Donald Trump to “keep dreaming” if he thinks US airstrikes in June destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Khamenei also rejected Trump’s offer to resume nuclear negotiations that were cut short when Israel struck the Islamic Republic on June 13, leading to 12 days of war during which Trump ordered the unprecedented strikes on Iran.

“The US president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran’s nuclear industry. Very well, keep dreaming!” said Khamenei in comments posted to his website.

“Trump says he is a dealmaker, but if a deal is accompanied by coercion and its outcome is predetermined, it is not a deal but rather an imposition and bullying,” Khamenei said, according to state media. “What does it have to do with America whether Iran has nuclear facilities or not? These interventions are inappropriate, wrong and coercive.”

The comments were posted under the heading “US President remarks in Palestine: An attempt to pull Zionists out of despair,” referring to Trump’s speech at the Knesset in Jerusalem last Monday after Hamas released the last 20 living hostages from Gaza as part of the ceasefire he brokered.

During the speech, Trump repeated his claim, which has been challenged by US intelligence, that the US strikes obliterated Iran’s key nuclear facilities. He also said it would be great if Washington could negotiate a “peace deal” with Tehran following the start of the Gaza ceasefire.

In a Sunday interview with Fox News, Trump again said Iran “no longer became the bully of the Middle East” after the US strikes which “destroyed their nuclear capability.” He further called the strikes “the most beautiful military operation.”

The true impact of the US strikes remains unknown. The Pentagon has said that the strikes delayed Iran’s nuclear program by between one and two years, contradicting an initial classified US intelligence report that, according to American medi,a found the setback was only by a few months.

The June war with Israel took place two days ahead of a planned sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, which had begun in April.

Nuclear talks have been derailed since, with Iran saying it was open to negotiations only if the US provided guarantees of no military action.

Iran has since been hit with UN sanctions that were reimposed following the expiration of the 2015 nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and world powers. The US withdrew from the deal in 2018, during Trump’s first term.

Iran, whose leaders have sworn to destroy Israel, publicly 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.