Iran has not been weakened by over a year of Mideast combat with Israel, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in some of his first remarks after Donald Trump returned to the White House, daring so-called enemies to test Tehran's mettle.
"That delusional fantasist claimed that Iran has been weakened," Khamenei told a group of his supporters in Tehran, without elaborating. "The future will reveal who has truly been weakened."
In the last week, US President Donald Trump, his predecessor Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have all described Iran as weakened.
They cited Tehran's reduced influence in the region following the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria, Israeli attacks on its air defense capabilities and the killing of leaders of its armed Palestinian and Lebanese allies.
Khamenei said former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein started the invasion of Iran in September 1980 and then-US president Ronald Reagan provided significant support to his regime, both "under the illusion that Iran was weak."
"They, along with dozens of other deluded individuals, ultimately met their demise, while the Islamic regime grew stronger day by day. I tell you, this experience will be repeated once again this time," he added.
His comments came two days after Trump's return to the White House and at a time when his administration is potentially weighing whether to support a possible Israeli air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Asked whether Trump would support such an attack, his national security advisor Mike Waltz said: "This is a moment to make those key decisions, and we'll be doing that over the next month."
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Waltz also said Iran's regional position is under strain with its air defenses destroyed and key allies diminished. He credited Israeli attacks for what he called a strategic shift in the Middle East.
Khamenei, however, referred to the recent ceasefire in Gaza as a victory for the Iran-led Resistance Front and "a clear sign of the realization of the prediction that resistance is alive and will endure."
He emphasized that without US support, Israel would have collapsed within the first weeks after October 7, 2023, when Tehran-backed Hamas militants attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
"Over the past year and a few months, the Zionist regime committed every atrocity it could, bombing homes, hospitals, mosques and churches in a small area like Gaza, Khamenei said.
"Yet in the end, it not only failed to achieve the goal set by its miserable and discredited leader—eliminating Hamas and governing Gaza without resistance—but was also forced to sit at the negotiation table with Hamas and accept its terms for a ceasefire."
Trump has signaled stepped-up support for Israel and a renewed hard line on Iran.
The hawkish new president is due to lift Biden's freeze on delivering 2,000-pound bombs to Israel in his first days in the White House, Israeli news outlet Walla News reported this week, citing Israel's ambassador to Washington.
"What is happening before the eyes of the world seems like a legend," Khamenei continued, "where a massive military apparatus like that of the United States, indifferent to human values, provides bunker-busting bombs to the oppressive and bloodthirsty Zionist regime."
