IRAN’S Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today his country had delivered a “slap to America’s face” with its strike on a US base in Qatar, and warned against any further US attacks.

These were his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared with Israel after 12 days of war.

Ayatollah Khamenei spoke in a recorded video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first appearance since June 19.

He said claims by President Donald Trump that Sunday’s US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites had “completely and fully obliterated Iran’s nuclear programme” were exaggerated.

“They could not achieve anything significant,” he said.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Rafael Grossi, says the damage done by Israeli and US strikes at Iranian nuclear facilities “is very, very, very considerable.”

But he told French broadcaster RFI that “I think annihilated is too much but it suffered enormous damage.”

Ayatollah Khamenei claimed the US had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.”

“It entered the war to save them, yet it gained nothing,” he said.

He said his country’s attack on the US base in Qatar on Monday was significant, since it shows Iran “has access to important US centres in the region and can act against them whenever it deems necessary.

“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” he said, adding “this action can be repeated in the future.”

“Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price,” he warned.

Today Iran partially reopened its air space, which had been shut down since the war broke out, and shops in the capital Tehran began to reopen, with traffic returning to the streets.

Earlier this week, Tehran said 606 people had been killed in the conflict in Iran, with 5,332 people wounded. 

The Israelis say that at least 28 people were killed in Israel and more than 1,000 wounded.

Mr Trump said on Wednesday that US and Iranian officials will talk next week.

Iran still insists that it will not give up its nuclear energy programme. The country’s parliament agreed on Wednesday to fast-track a proposal that would effectively end the country’s co-operation with the IAEA.