Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared Wednesday, via a televised statement, that Tehran will reject U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender.
His calls came as intensified Israeli airstrikes forced many Iranians to flee the capital, jamming the highways.
In a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday, Khamenei, 86, said the Americans "should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage."
"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.
Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. In social media posts Tuesday he mused about killing Khamenei, then demanded Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!"
