Iran's Supreme Leader Responds To Trump's Threat To Tehran Bombing: US Will Receive Hard Blow

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei/DOK IRNA

JAKARTA - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US would take a heavy blow if it acted on President Donald Trump's threat to carry out bombings if Tehran did not reach a new nuclear deal with Washington.

Trump reiterated his threat that Iran would be bombed if it did not accept its offer to negotiate described in a letter sent to Iranian leaders in early March. Trump gave Tehran two months to make a decision.

"The hostilities of the US and Israel are always there. They threaten to attack us, which we don't think is possible, but if they commit a crime, they will definitely receive a strong retaliatory blow," Khamenei said.

"And if they think of causing insurgency in the country as in previous years, the Iranian people themselves will face it."

The Iranian government blamed the West for recent unrest including the 2022-2023 protests over Mahsa Amini's death in detention, a young woman who was detained for allegedly violating the headscarf rule, and national protests in 2019 over rising fuel prices.

Last week, Iran responded to the US letter with President Masoud Pezeshkian insisting Tehran would not negotiate directly with Washington but was willing to resume talks indirectly in accordance with Khamenei's orders.

In his first term in 2017-21, Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 deal between Iran and major world countries imposing strict restrictions on disputed Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump has also reimposed widespread US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has gone far beyond the limits of the deal on uranium enrichment.

Western countries accuse Iran of having a secret agenda for developing nuclear weapons capabilities by enriching uranium to a high level of fissile purity, above what they say can be justified for the energy program of civilian atoms. Tehran says its nuclear program is entirely for civilian energy purposes.