Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made his first public comments since the United States launched an attack on Saturday on Iran's nuclear facilities.
His Thursday comments were defiant as they declared victory against Israel and warned the U.S. against future attacks.
"I offer my congratulations on the victory over the fallacious Zionist regime," he said. "With all that commotion and all those claims, the Zionist regime was practically knocked out and crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic.
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"My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the U.S. regime. The U.S. regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing."
An initial assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency stated that while the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites were damaged, they were not completely destroyed.
"Since then, we've collected additional intelligence — we've also spoken to people who have seen the site, and the site, the site is obliterated," President Trump said during a press conference at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands.
Khamenei's comments come as U.S. officials claim that they have set Iran's nuclear enrichment program back years after striking three targets.
“CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes," CIA Director John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday. "This includes new intelligence from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years."
