Iran has denied claims that it reached out to the United States for talks through a third country, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling the reports “a complete lie” in televised remarks aired on Thursday,
Al Arabiya reports.
“They are creating rumors that Iran sent a message to America through some country – that is a complete lie,” Khamenei said, adding that Tehran should not pursue relations or cooperation with what he described as a “warmongering” US government.
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Khamenei also accused Washington of starting the Russia-Ukraine war and criticized US President Donald Trump for failing to fulfill his pledge to end the conflict.
“This current American president used to say that he would resolve the (Ukraine war) in three days. Nearly a year has passed, and now he is imposing a 28-point plan on the very country he brought into the war,” Khamenei said.
“Wherever America intervenes, the result is war-mongering, genocide, destruction, and displacement,” he added.
Khamenei went on to claim that the United States and Israel failed to achieve their objectives during the 12-day war with Iran earlier this year.
“Yes, we suffered losses, we lost dear lives… this is the nature of war. But the one who started the attack suffered more losses than we did,” he said.
In June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a war that the US briefly joined with strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel’s attack prompted an Iranian response of missile and drone strikes and derailed nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington that had begun in April.
A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24.
Since the war, Trump has repeatedly said the US strikes obliterated Iran’s nuclear program, but the full extent of the damage remains unknown.
The Pentagon has said the strikes delayed Iran’s nuclear program by between one and two years.
“In the 12-day war, America suffered heavy losses. It used the latest and most advanced offensive and defensive weapons… but it could not achieve what it wanted,” Khamenei said.
The Iranian leader has previously rebuffed Trump’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program had been destroyed, telling him to “keep dreaming.”
