Iran's Khamenei threatens US with 'irreparable damage' if Trump joins war
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responded to US President Donald Trump’s call for Iran to surrender without conditions, saying Iran will not yield.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday the Islamic Republic will not surrender and warned that any US military intervention will have grave consequences as the Iran-Israel conflict continues unabated.
The statements came in response to US President Donald Trump’s call for Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" in a Truth Social post Tuesday.
“The Iranian nation will firmly stand against an imposed war, just as it will resolutely resist an imposed peace,” Khamenei said in his first televised speech since Israel began its military campaign on Friday.
“This is a nation that will never surrender to any form of imposition,” he vowed.
Details: Referring to Trump’s comments the day prior, Khamenei warned against US military intervention in Iran, saying, “The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage.”
He went on, “Those with wisdom, who truly understand Iran, its people and its long history, never speak to this nation with the language of threats. Iran will not yield.”
#Khamenei response to #Trump: We will not surrender pic.twitter.com/7B8HkuZpRq
— Qusay Noor (@QUSAY_NOOR_) June 18, 2025
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump issued a direct warning to Khamenei, describing him as an “easy target” as he claimed that Washington was aware of his whereabouts.
“We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin,” Trump said.
Minutes later, he posted, “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
Iranians gathered in Tehran's Palestine Square to protest US President Trump’s recent inflammatory remarks against Iran and the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei.
Follow: https://t.co/mLGcUTS2ei pic.twitter.com/DmUtkuWfPl— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) June 18, 2025
Trump’s comments prompted crowds to gather in Tehran on Tuesday evening in protest against his threats toward Iran and Khamenei, Iranian media reported and online videos showed. According to the semi-official Tasnim and Mehr news agencies, dozens of demonstrators carried the national flag and chanted slogans condemning Israel’s attacks against Iran and US interference in Iranian affairs. It remains difficult to verify the scale of the protest, as Iranian media is largely controlled by the state and opposition to the regime is rarely covered amid a crackdown against any form of dissent. The Iranian leadership has also severely limited internet access.
Iran has seen large anti-regime protests in recent years with the participation of thousands of people that were met with violent repression and mass arrests. However, there is little reliable data on public sentiment inside the country. In one opinion poll conducted by the Netherlands-based Gamaan institute in 2023 involving 158,000 people in Iran, 80% of respondents opposed the Islamic Republic and preferred a democratic government.
Background: Khamenei has served as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Islamic Revolution against the country’s US-backed shah and founded the Islamic Republic in 1979.
The 86-year-old leader rarely appears in public and his movements are subject to tight security and secrecy.
Hours after the Israeli military launched an unprecedented wave of airstrikes against Iran’s military and nuclear facilities on Friday, Khamenei was reportedly moved to a bunker in the Lavizan area in northeastern Tehran. Sources told the London-based Iran International news outlet that Khamenei’s family members, including his son Mojtaba, who is seen as his potential successor, were taken with him.
Trump has reportedly rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Khamenei during its recent attack on Iran, according to several sources who spoke to Reuters and other media outlets.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off the reports, saying in an interview on Sunday with Fox News, “There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that.”
He added, "But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do; we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States.”
Know more: The ongoing Israel-Iran war comes as Iran intensifies its crackdown against Israel-linked individuals across the country.
The conservative speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused Israel Monday of trying to topple the Iranian regime and blaming “internal infiltration” for enabling Israeli strikes inside Iran.
On Wednesday, Iranian authorities in the western province of Lorestan detained five people accused of working as spies for Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
“These mercenaries sought to sow fear among the public and tarnish the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran through their calculated activities online,” Tasnim quoted a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying.
Clashes between security forces and a group suspected of ties to Israeli intelligence were reported in Rey city, south of Tehran on Wednesday. The semi-official Mehr news agency said some members of the group were captured or killed, though no definite figure was provided.
According to Mehr, the security operation foiled the group’s plan to carry out “terrorist operations in densely populated areas of the capital.”
Iranian authorities carry out regular operations against people suspected of spying for Israel, often without providing public evidence to substantiate these claims.
An alleged Mossad-linked cell in the same city was arrested on Monday in a security raid during which police stormed a residential property and found 200 kilograms of explosives and 23 drones and launch platforms, among other equipment, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Israel rarely comments on such reports.
Another workshop with equipment for manufacturing drones and small aircrafts was dismantled in the central city of Isfahan on Monday, with police saying they arrested four people suspected of working with Israel.
