Khamenei says Iran will ‘never surrender’, warns off US

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday the nation would never surrender as demanded by President Donald Trump and warned the United States it would face “irreparable damage” if it intervenes.

“This nation will never surrender to imposition from anyone,” Khamenei said in a speech read on state television. “America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage.”

In his first remarks since Friday, when he delivered a speech broadcast on state media after Israel began bombarding Iran, Khamenei said peace or war could not be imposed on the Islamic Republic.

“Intelligent people who know Iran, the Iranian nation, and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening language because the Iranian nation will not surrender,” he said.

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“The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage.”

MESSAGE CONVEYED

A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering a number of options, which included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran had conveyed to Washington that it would retaliate against the United States for any direct participation, its ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said.

He said he already saw the US as “complicit in what Israel is doing”.

Read more: Israel-Iran clash leads to slew of evacuations

Earlier, the New York Times reported that Iran has completed preparations to target US military bases in the Middle East.

According to the US officials in the report, if the US joins Israel in its outgoing conflict with Iran, the Islamic Republic is poised to launch missile attacks and deploy other military equipment against American installations.