Iran’s supreme leader makes first public statement since ceasefire declared in Israel-Iran war

This image grab taken from footage broadcast by Iran's IRIB news agency on June 26, 2025, shows the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressing the nation. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 26 June 2025
Follow

Iran’s supreme leader makes first public statement since ceasefire declared in Israel-Iran war

  • Khamenei hasn't been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war June 13

DUBAI: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel and said his country had “delivered a hand slap to America’s face” on Thursday, in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared in the war between the two countries.

Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first appearance since June 19, looking and sounding more tired than he did only a week ago.

He told viewers that the US had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.”

But he said, however, that the US “achieved no gains from this war."

“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” he said, in apparent reference to an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.

The 86-year-old Khamenei hasn't been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war June 13 when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and targeted top military commanders and scientists.

Following an American attack on June 22 that hit the nuclear sites with bunker-buster bombs, U.S. President Donald Trump was able to help negotiate a ceasefire that came into effect on Tuesday.

In his appearance on Thursday, he sat in front of plain brown curtains to give his address, similar to his June 19 message.


Flash floods kill 21 in Moroccan coastal town

Updated 59 min 20 sec ago
Follow

Flash floods kill 21 in Moroccan coastal town

RABAT: Flash-flooding caused by sudden, heavy rain killed at least 21 people in the Moroccan coastal town of Safi on Sunday, local authorities said.
Images on social media showed a torrent of muddy water sweeping cars and rubbish bins from the streets in Safi, which sits around 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of the capital Rabat.
At least 70 homes and businesses in the historic old city were flooded, authorities said.
Another 32 people were injured and taken to hospital, but most of them have been discharged.

Damage to roads cut off traffic along several routes to and from the port city on the Atlantic coast.
“It’s a black day,” resident Hamza Chdouani told AFP.
By evening, the water level had receded, leaving people to pick through a mud-sodden landscape to salvage belongings.
Another resident, Marouane Tamer, questioned why government trucks had not been dispatched to pump out the water.
As teams searched for other possible casualties, the weather service forecast more heavy rain on Tuesday across the country.
Severe weather and flooding are not uncommon in Morocco, which is struggling with a severe drought for the seventh consecutive year.
The General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM) said 2024 was Morocco’s hottest year on record, while registering an average rainfall deficit of -24.7 percent.
Moroccan autumns are typically marked by a gradual drop in temperatures, but climate change has affected weather patterns and made storms more intense because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and warmer seas can turbocharge the systems.