Defiant Ayatollah claims victory for Iran after hostilities with Israel, U.S.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel on Thursday and said Iran had "delivered a hand slap to America's face," as he re-emerged after taking shelter in a secret location.

Iran's supreme leader made the comments during a televised speech and warned that any future aggression against Iran would come at a great cost. He hadn't been seen in public since Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and targeted top military commanders and scientists beginning June 13.

Following a massive attack by the U.S. on June 22 that hit the nuclear sites with bunker-buster bombs, U.S. President Donald Trump was able to help negotiate a ceasefire that came into effect on Tuesday.  

Before the ceasefire, Iran had responded to the U.S. intervention by sending ballistic missiles in the direction of the U.S. military base in Qatar, though it appeared the Americans were given advance notice of the volley. No deaths or injuries were reported by U.S. or Qatari officials.

"The fact that the Islamic Republic has access to important American centres in the region and can take action against them whenever it deems necessary is not a small incident, it is a major incident, and this incident can be repeated in the future if an attack is made," said Khamenei.

Trump cabinet officials including U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth are set to brief U.S. senators on the strikes on Thursday. Hegseth met with reporters first and said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium in order to shield it ahead of the weekend strikes.

Gen. Dan Caine, the joint chiefs of staff chairman, responding to a reporter question, said he had not faced political pressure from officials in the Trump administration to tailor his initial assessments of the strikes — and added that he wouldn't agree to such a request.

Caine's comment came after the administration took umbrage after an intelligence report was leaked to the media. The report, slammed by Trump and top officials, suggested that Iran's nuclear program has been set back only a few months.

"We don't grade our own homework, the intelligence community does," Caine said on Thursday.

Caine said six bombs targeting the ventilation shafts of Iran's Fordow enrichment site were on target. On Sunday, Caine said it was "far too early" to assess the damage resulting from the strikes.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, in a statement late Wednesday, said that the U.S. airstrikes had "severely damaged" Iran's nuclear program, but he stopped short of declaring that the program had been destroyed. The agency confirmed a "body of credible evidence" that several key Iranian facilities were destroyed and would take years to rebuild, he said.

Israel's nuclear agency assessed the strikes had "set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years." The White House has also circulated the Israeli assessment.

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, has dismissed what he called the "hourglass approach" of assessing damage to Iran's nuclear program in terms of months needed to rebuild, saying there needs to be a sustainable long-term solution.

"In any case, the technological knowledge is there and the industrial capacity is there. That, no one can deny. So we need to work together with them," he said.