Iran's Slap in The Face

"The American president exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration."

"[Iran delivered a] slap in the face [with its airstrike on an American airbase in Qatar]." 

"[U.S. President Donald Trump claiming the attack] completely and fully obliterated Iran's nuclear program, had] exaggerated [its impact]."

"They could not achieve anything significant."

"[The United States] has gained nothing from this war. [American strikes] did nothing significant [to Iran’s nuclear facilities]." 

"The Islamic Republic won, and in retaliation dealt a severe slap to the face of America."

"Such an action can be repeated in the future, too. [Iran has] access to key US centers in the region and can take action whenever it deems necessary."

"Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price. Surrender will never happen. Our nation is powerful."

"[The US only intervened in the war because] it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed."

"I want to congratulate the great Iranian nation… for its victory over the fallacious Zionist regime."

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

People film projectiles over Doha in Qatar on June 23, 2025, amid an Iranian attack on the largest US military base in the region. (AFP)

 

The Islamic Republic's Ayatollah Khamenei addressed his public in a recorded video broadcast on Iranian state television, appearing for the first time since June 19. In a hoarse voice, occasionally stumbling over his words, the 86-year-old spoke to the country's 90 million people of the great victory that the nation realized over its enemies, Israel and the United States following 12 days of aerial warfare.

 

Downplaying the significance of any damage to his nation's most important nuclear sites with the use of cruise missiles and bunker-buster bombs, he minimized any possible damage that might have occurred and spoke of Iran's powerful response to the indignity imposed upon it by its adversaries. In the process his ten-minute speech contained no references to Iran's nuclear program and the facilities' condition along with their centrifuges, following extensive Israeli and U.S. strikes.

 

Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency, on the other hand, repeated that the damage Israeli and American strikes at Iranian nuclear facilities "is very, very, very considerable. I think annihilated is too much, but it suffered enormous damage", IAEA director Grossi announced. Much as did Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman in conceding that the country's "nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure".  

 

Khamenei had gone into hiding in a secret location following the June13 outbreak of war when Israel launched an air invasion attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and in the process targeted elite military commanders and nuclear scientists. 

 

Israeli security forces inspect the site struck by an Iranian missile strike that killed several people, in Beersheba, Israel, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

 

For his part, President Trump, dismissed the retaliatory attack as a "very weak response". The U.S. had been forewarned by Iran itself, the result of which saw no casualties at the U.S. air base. The base, as it happened, had been emptied of both its American military personnel and the U.S. planes normally parked there, even prior to the Sunday B-2 bunker-buster attack on the Fordow facility and that of the Isfahan nuclear plant. 

 

Since then, following the calling of a ceasefire, normalcy in the social life of Iran has returned. Iran's airspace has been partially reopened and Tehran shops have opened for business,  traffic returning to its pre-attack normalcy. 

 

Over 550 missiles were fired at Israel by the Islamic Republic during the 12-day war. There was a 90 percent interception rate. For its part, Israel hit over 720 Iranian military infrastructure targets and eight nuclear related sites. 

 

A woman walks past a residential building that was hit in an Israeli strike covered with a big Iranian flag, in Tehran on June 25, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)