US President Trump has rejected claims that Ayatollah Khamenei has won the Iran-Israel conflict. He made it clear that the nuclear facilities have suffered serious damage.
US President Donald Trump on Friday (June 27, 2025) mocked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s warning to the US not to carry out future attacks on Iran, as well as the Iranian Supreme Leader’s statement that Tehran had “won the war” with Israel.
In remarks to reporters and later in a wider statement on social media, Trump said Khamenei’s comments defied reality after 12 days of Israeli attacks and the US bombing of three key nuclear sites severely damaged the country’s nuclear program. The president suggested that Mr. Khamenei’s comments were inappropriate for Iran’s most powerful political and religious figure.
“Look, you’re a man of great faith. A man who is highly respected in his country. You have to tell the truth,” Mr. Trump said of Khamenei. “You’re going to hell.”
The US president made the comments a day after Khamenei insisted that Tehran had “slapped America in the face” by attacking a US air base in Qatar and warned the US or Israel not to carry out further attacks on Iran. Khamenei’s pre-recorded statement, broadcast on Iranian state television, was the first time Iranians had heard directly from the supreme leader.
The heated rhetoric from Trump and Khamenei continued as the two leaders faced tough questions about the impact of the attacks.
Trump and his aides pushed back sharply after the Defense Intelligence Agency’s preliminary damage assessment became public and suggested that the US bombing could set back Tehran’s nuclear program by months.
Eighty-six-year-old Khamenei, the most powerful figure in Iran’s theocracy, appeared intent on displaying his authority and power amid speculation about his health and the extent to which he was involved in Iran’s wartime decision-making through the 12-day conflict.
In a social media post on Friday (June 27, 2025), Trump also appeared to refer to a plan submitted to the White House by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to kill Mr. Khamenei in the early days of the Israel-Iran conflict. According to a US official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, Mr. Trump vetoed the plan.
“His country is destroyed, his three evil nuclear facilities have been wiped out, and I know exactly where he is hiding and neither Israel nor the most powerful US armed forces in the world will let him end his life,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social.
“I saved him from a very ugly and humiliating death, and he said, ‘Thank you, President Trump!’ “Needless to say,” Mr. Trump wrote after the US airstrikes, sending warnings to Mr. Khamenei via social media, adding that the US knew where he was but had no plans to kill him, “at least for now.”
Editorial | Strategic Destruction: On the Israel-Iran Conflict
Former President Trump said that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “destroyed” in strikes using U.S.-made bunker-buster bombs. Although the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) report mentioned this, administration officials have not commented on it. However, citing the CIA statement and assessments by other international intelligence agencies – the strikes severely damaged Iran’s nuclear activities and disabled a key facility.
Trump expressed hope that he would be open to international inspections to prove that Iran had not restarted its nuclear program.
Responding to a question about whether the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) or any other credible organization should be authorized to inspect during talks with Iran – Trump made it clear that “the Islamic Republic must cooperate with the IAEA or with organizations that we respect.”
White House sources said that while talks with Iran are likely to resume soon, no schedule has been set. Earlier this week, Middle East envoy Steve Whittaker said that direct and indirect talks have taken place between the US and Iran.
The sixth round of US-Iran talks, scheduled for Oman earlier this month, were called off in the wake of Israeli strikes on Iran.
Trump has expressed his belief that Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions are no longer viable.
“I can say this clearly – they are finished. And Israel is finished. The last thing they are thinking about now is nuclear weapons,” Trump said.