Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei Makes First Public Comments in Almost a Week

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulated Iranians for what he described as a victory over Israel and the United States, in a defiant video message that appeared to be his first public statement since U.S. war planes bombed three of the country’s nuclear facilities.

Public alarm has been rising in Iran over the absence of Mr. Khamenei, who has the final say on key decisions for the country but has not been seen or heard from publicly in a week. Although he had issued two statements during Iran and Israel’s 12-day conflict, he had made no public statements or recorded messages since the American miliary attack on Sunday, Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar, and Iran and Israel agreed to a cease-fire on Tuesday.

The lack of any comment from Mr. Khamenei had begun to raise questions among the Iranian public over his health and his whereabouts. Iranian officials had previously said Mr. Khamenei was sheltering in a bunker and refraining from any electronic communications in order to prevent assassination attempts against him.

There were no clear signs from the video as to when the recording was made. Mr. Khamenei spoke seated in front of a beige curtain, with an Iranian flag to his left and a photograph of the Islamic Republic’s first leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, hanging above him — an identical setting to the last video message he released since the start of the recent conflict with Israel.

He did not address the extent of damage from the U.S. and Israeli strikes or the fate of Iran’s nuclear program. But the comment appeared to have been made after the United States attacked Iran, as he declared that Washington was forced to enter the conflict on Israel’s behalf.

“The American regime entered into a direct war because it felt that if it did not enter, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. But it did not gain anything from this war,” he said.

This is a developing story.