Khamenei threatens ‘strong blow’ against Israel, US if Trump bombs Iran

After Iranian president rejects US President Trump’s call to negotiate directly for a new nuclear deal, Iran’s supreme leader threatens both the US and Israel if Trump follows through with threats to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Iran’s supreme leader threatened to strike the US and Israel with a “strong” retaliation if President Donald Trump follows through with his recent threats to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities should Tehran refuse to negotiate a new nuclear deal.

Speaking at an Eid al-Fitr event on Monday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US and Israel will both face “a severe and powerful blow” should Iran’s nuclear facilities be attacked.

“The enmity from the US and Israel has always been there. They threaten to attack us, which we don’t think is very probable, but if they commit any mischief, they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow,” Khamenei said.

Tehran on Monday summoned the Swiss ambassador, who has served as an interlocutor for the U.S. in dealings with Iran, to receive the foreign ministry’s official response to Trump’s recent comments.

A day earlier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian informed his cabinet that he had rejected Trump’s letter, penned in early March and received by Tehran on March 12 via Oman, in which the American president called for direct negotiations on a new nuclear deal, while warning that America could strike Iranian nuclear facilities if no deal is reached.

Later on Sunday, Trump responded to Pezeshkian’s announcement, warning in an interview with the American NBC News network that “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing.”

“It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

The Iranian state-controlled newspaper Tehran Times responded to Trump’s comments by warning that Iranian missiles are “loaded onto launchers in all underground missile sites and are ready for launch.”