Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Friday he had saved Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khameni from assassination and lashed out at the supreme leader for ingratitude, declaring he would order more bombing if the country tried to pursue nuclear weapons.
In an extraordinary outburst on his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted Tehran for claiming to have won its war with Israel and said he was halting work on possible sanctions relief.
Trump said that the United States would bomb Iran again "without question" if the country was still able to enrich nuclear-weapons grade uranium following US strikes.
The US president accused the Iranian leader of ingratitude after Khamenei said in a defiant message that reports of damage to its nuclear sites from US bombing were exaggerated, and said Iran had beaten Israel and dealt Washington a "slap."
Trump posted: "I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life."
"I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, “THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!'"
Trump said that he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, one of Tehran's long-term demands.
"But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more," Trump added, exhorting Iran to return to the negotiating table.
Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday denied it is set to resume nuclear talks with the United States, after Trump said at a NATO summit in The Hague that negotiations were set to begin again next week.
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff had expressed hope "for a comprehensive peace agreement."
Asked earlier in a White House press conference whether he would consider fresh air strikes if last week's sorties were not successful in ending Iran's nuclear ambitions, Trump said: "Sure. Without question. Absolutely."
Trump added that Khamenei and Iran "got beat to hell" in the hostilities involving the United States and Israel and that "it was a great time to end it."
He had said during the press conference that he would be "putting out a little statement" on Khamenei's comments, which appeared to be the Truth Social post.
In the post, he accused Khamenei of "blatantly and foolishly" saying Iran won the 12-day war with Israel, adding: "As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie."
The war of words come as a fragile ceasefire holds in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Speculation had however swirled about the fate of Khamenei.
In a televised speech on Thursday -- his first appearance since the ceasefire -- Khamenei hailed what he described as Iran's "victory" over Israel, vowed never to yield to US pressure and insisted Washington had been dealt a humiliating "slap".
"The American president exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration," Khamenei said, rejecting Trump's claims Iran's nuclear program had been set back by decades.
I expect the next supreme leader to be more brutal. Better keep khamenei