Khamenei Rejects Trump's Claims of Destroyed Iranian Nuclear Facilities: Diplomatic Tensions Escalate

The actual effectiveness of the American military action against Iran remains uncertain.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, strongly rejected US President Donald Trump's assertions on Monday that American strikes in June had destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities.

In an official statement published on his website, Khamenei told Trump to "keep dreaming" regarding these claims and challenged the US president's authority to "dictate what a country should or should not possess if it maintains a nuclear industry."

Israel launched an extensive bombing operation against Iran in mid-June, with the United States briefly participating by targeting critical Iranian nuclear installations.

During his address to the Israeli Knesset last week, Trump reasserted that the US had succeeded in "obliterating" Iranian nuclear sites during these military operations.

"We dropped 14 bombs on Iran's key nuclear facilities. Totally, as I said originally, obliterating them, and that's been confirmed," Trump stated.

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump claimed that following the US strikes, Iran "no longer became the bully of the Middle East" because the operation had "destroyed their nuclear capability."

He described the strikes as "the most beautiful military operation."

The actual effectiveness of the American military action remains uncertain.

Pentagon officials have stated that the strikes delayed Iran's nuclear program by one to two years, which contradicts an earlier classified US intelligence assessment that, according to American media reports, determined the delay was only a matter of months.

Khamenei characterized Trump's statements as "improper, wrong, and bullying" on Monday.

The military conflict with Israel in June occurred just two days before a scheduled sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, which had commenced in April.

Nuclear discussions have stalled since Iran declared it would only participate in negotiations if the United States guaranteed no further military actions.