Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared on Thursday that the Trump administration was “not worthy” of engagement or cooperation with the Islamic republic.
“Such a government (the United States) is not worthy of being approached or cooperated with by a government like the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said during a televised address, dismissing reports that Iran had communicated with Washington as a “pure lie.”
His comments coincided with a state-designated day honoring the Basij forces, a paramilitary unit under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Khamenei added that the United States and Israel had failed “to achieve any objectives” during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in June.
In June, Israel launched an extensive bombing campaign against Iran, prompting retaliatory missile and drone strikes and briefly involving the United States with attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. The assaults disrupted nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington that had begun in April. A ceasefire has been in place since June 24.
During his speech, Khamenei lauded Iran’s “public unity” throughout the conflict, noting that “even those who had differences with the system stood by it.” He emphasized that this unity “must be preserved and appreciated.”
Khamenei also asserted that Israel’s actions aimed to weaken the Islamic republic, create unrest, and incite people “into the streets to overthrow the system.”
Since the conflict, Trump has repeatedly claimed that US strikes destroyed Iran’s nuclear programme, though the full impact remains unclear. The Pentagon assessed that the strikes delayed Iran’s nuclear progress by one to two years, contradicting earlier classified US intelligence that suggested only a brief delay.
Khamenei has previously dismissed Trump’s assertions about the nuclear programme, famously telling him to “keep dreaming.”
