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Israel-Iran Conflict
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Photo: x.com/Khamenei_fa

'Zionist enemy made grave mistake, it is being punished right now': Ayatollah Khamenei's first remark after US strike

| @indiablooms | Jun 23, 2025, at 01:02 pm

Tehran/IBNS: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has vowed "punishment" for the "Zionist enemy" in his first remarks after the US struck his country's three nuclear sites.

In a message for Israel, Khamenei wrote on X, "The Zionist enemy has made a grave mistake, committed a great crime; it must be punished and is being punished; it is being punished right now."

US President Donald Trump on Sunday announced bombing Iran's three nuclear sites and said that with this operation, there would either be peace or more tragedy for Tehran.

The sites are Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

He thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the Israeli army and said it was teamwork.

In an address to the world and nation from the White House, President Trump said: "A short time ago, the US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

"Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror."

"Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier."

Iran on Sunday launched new strikes on Israel hours after the US forces joined the Israeli military campaign and attacked three of its key nuclear sites.

The conflict started a week ago when Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military sites, primarily targeting uranium enrichment facilities to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Iran and Israel have been trading missiles and drones at each other since the conflict between the two Middle Eastern countries began last Friday.

The war began when the Israeli military launched "Operation Rising Lion" and attacked Iranian cities, saying it had concluded Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.

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