Iran's Khamenei makes first public appearance since start of Israel air strikes
Khameni makes his first appearance pic.twitter.com/Pi38sOgDSx
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) July 5, 2025
The footage, reported by Reuters, marks Khamenei's first public appearance since 13 June, when a 12-day air conflict with Israel began. That exchange resulted in the deaths of senior Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists.
The state media video showed Khamenei at the event, though no further details were immediately provided.
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In 1982, Iran's darkest moment came after it launched a failed operation to seize the southern Iraqi city of Basra. It resulted in tens of thousands of Iranian casualties and exposed the country's military weakness. The war prompted Iran to reimagine its defensive strategy in ways that steered it toward a fight with Israel. When Iraq invaded, Iran's rulers tried to compete in the air by freeing jailed U.S.-trained fighter pilots who had fought for the ousted Shah. But they soon ran out of spare parts for their U.S.-made F-14 jet fighters. America, now their enemy, refused to resupply them, and some jets were grounded, gifting Iraq a military advantage. After the war—which Iran claimed as a victory but ended largely inconclusively—Tehran vowed never again to rely on foreign powers to supply weapons for its defense systems. 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Write to Sudarsan Raghavan at and Sune Engel Rasmussen at
