Trump claims he spared Khamenei’s life but would consider bombing Iran again

Donald Trump claimed that he spared the life of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, but would consider bombing Iran again if Tehran enriched uranium to worrisome levels.

The US president also reacted sternly to Mr Khamenei’s first remarks since Iran’s 12-day military conflict with Israel ended. The US had joined the conflict on Israel’s side by launching a bombing raid on Iranian nuclear sites last week, prompting Iran to retaliate with an attack on an American military base in Qatar.

Mr Khamenei said Iran had “slapped America in the face” by attacking the base in Qatar. He also said that Iran would never surrender.

Claiming to have spared the supreme leader’s life, Mr Trump said: “I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH.”

American officials told Reuters on 15 June that Mr Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Mr Khamenei.

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“His Country was decimated, his three evil Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED and I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life,” Mr Trump said in a social media post.

Iran said any potential nuclear deal was conditional on the US ending its “disrespectful tone” towards the supreme leader. “If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers,” the foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said in an X post in the early hours of Saturday.

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Mr Trump also said that in recent days he had been working on the possible removal of sanctions on Iran to give it a chance for a speedy recovery, but had now abandoned that effort.

“I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,” he said.

Mr Trump said at a White House news conference he did not rule out attacking Iran again when asked about the possibility of new bombing of Iranian nuclear sites if deemed necessary at some point.

“Sure, without question, absolutely,” he said.

Mr Trump said he would like inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, or another respected source to be able to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites after they were bombed last weekend.

The US president rejected any suggestion that damage to the nuclear sites was not as profound as he had claimed.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that ensuring the resumption of IAEA inspections was his top priority as none had taken place since Israel began bombing on 13 June.

Iran has moved to suspend such inspections, however. Mr Araqchi indicated on Friday Tehran would likely reject Mr Grossi’s request for visits to Iranian nuclear sites.

Mr Trump said Iran still wanted to meet about the way forward. The White House had said on Thursday no meeting between the US and an Iranian delegation had been scheduled thus far.