Khamenei Says Iran Strike Delivered a ‘Slap’ to the U.S. Superpower Image
- Comments come with officials under pressure over jet tragedy
- Iran and U.S. exchanged military blows earlier this month
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Photographer: Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images
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Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran had delivered a “slap to the U.S.’s image as a superpower” in this month’s military confrontation, seeking to rally Iranians around an embattled establishment as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in eight years.
His speech came amid unprecedented international scrutiny over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s unintentional shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane just hours after Iran had fired missiles into Iraqi bases housing American troops without causing fatalities. That attack had been in retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian commander by the U.S.