'Heavy slap to US': Iran warns against future strikes

Agencies
Dubai

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday his country had delivered a "slap to America's face” with its strike on an American base in Qatar, and warned against any further US attacks in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared with Israel. Khamenei spoke in a recorded video broadcast, his first appearance since June 19.

The 86-year-old looked and sounded more tired than he did only a week ago, occasionally stumbling over his words. The more-than 10 minute speech by the supreme leader was filled with warnings directed toward the US and Israel.

He downplayed Sunday's US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites using bunker-buster bombs and cruise missiles, saying that US President Donald Trump — who said the attack "completely obliterated Iran's nuclear program — had “exaggerated” its impact. “They could not achieve anything significant,” he said. However, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi, reiterated that the damage done by the Israeli and US strikes “is very, very, very considerable.”