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Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was seen in public for the first time since the beginning of Israel’s war against Iran on Saturday.
Khamenei had been secluded in a security bunker for the entirety of the conflict, though President Donald Trump claimed to know his location at the time. Khamenei attended a mourning ceremony on the eve of Ashoura on Saturday, waving to a large crowd but not making any statement.
Trump asserted during the 12-day war with Israel that the U.S. knew Khamenei’s location, but would not kill him, “at least for now.”
Khamenei made his first public statement in days on June 26, shortly after a cease-fire between Israel and Iran began. He said in a pre-recorded statement that Tehran had delivered a “slap to America’s face” by striking a U.S. air base in Qatar, and warning against further attacks by the U.S. or Israel on Iran.
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In reality, none of Iran’s missiles hit their mark on the Al-Udeid Air Base.
Despite the U.S. strike on three nuclear facilities across Iran last month, experts say the regime is still bent on developing nuclear weapons.
“Repair, reconstitute and rebuild is going to be the modus operandi of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran Program told Fox News Digital. “It just depends on how are they going to be doing it? While flirting with the international community? Are they going to go dark totally altogether?”
“All of this remains to be seen,” he added.
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Spokesman for the Iranian regime, Fatemeh Mohajerani, confirmed this week that the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites had been “seriously damaged” following the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear program last month.
Questions remain over the extent of damage that was incurred, as well as skepticism over whether Iran was able to move any enriched uranium or centrifuges away from the heavily guarded sites prior to the strikes.
Though the Trump administration said last week that it had “obliterated” the three facilities it struck, and has fervently rejected reports suggesting that Iranian officials may have been able to transfer some elements of the regime’s nuclear program, Israeli officials confirmed this week that they are continuing to monitor the situation closely.
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Experts in the U.S. and Israel have said they believe Iran is still assessing the extent of the damage from the “bunker buster” bombs, and that the regime will look to recover and repair what it can — meaning it may be looking to buy time.
“No doubt, the regime will still have a diplomatic strategy designed to rope-a-dope anybody, and to find as much time as possible for this government to do that,” Ben Taleblu said.
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report
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