Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has strongly criticised US President Donald Trump’s call for Iran’s surrender, describing it as “too big to come out of his mouth.”
“The US President stated, “Iran must surrender.” Needless to say, this statement is too big to come out of the US president’s mouth,” Khamenei wrote on X.
The US President stated, "Iran must surrender." Needless to say, this statement is too big to come out of the US president's mouth.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 26, 2025
According to The Hill, he said that the US “achieved nothing” from its military strikes on his nation and warned against any further attacks.
In his first public remarks since the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday, Khamenei declared victory in the conflict and pushed back on President Trump’s claims that the strikes were a “spectacular military success.”
“My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the US regime. The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed,” Khamenei said in his more-than 10 minute address, according to a translated passage posted to his account on the social platform X.
“It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing,” he added.
Trump has said that the strikes “obliterated Iran’s nuclear program,” but the Iranian supreme leader pushed back on that assessment.
Recently, Trump shared a post on his social media, Truth Social, saying “Unconditional surrender”. Trump warned that he could order further action if Tehran does not agree to a satisfactory peace agreement.
In his address to the nation from the White House on Saturday (local time), Trump said, “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we’ve witnessed over the last eight days.”
“This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” Trump added.
The conflict between Iran and Israel began on June 13 when Israel launched a large-scale airstrike targeting Iranian military and nuclear facilities under “Operation Rising Lion”. Iran responded by launching “Operation True Promise 3”, a campaign involving missile and drone attacks against Israel’s infrastructure.
