For Iranians, it’s generally not a good idea to contradict Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or leaders of his despotic regime. That’s because residents of the Islamic Republic live in a true dictatorship, not Whoopi Goldberg’s America, and those who criticize the ruling class often end up losing their ability to breathe.
It’s a bit of a surprise then that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi admitted on state television that the U.S. “Operation Midnight Hammer” attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites caused considerable damage. This despite the fact that the Ayatollah finally spoke out Thursday and declared in a video that the bunker bomb strikes were a failure and “were unable to do anything important.”
Aragachi had a different view:
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi admitted in an interview on state TV that the U.S.'s strikes caused serious damage to Tehran's nuclear facilities, despite Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's insistence that there was minimal impact.
Araghchi said in the interview that "the level of damage is high, and it’s serious damage," according to the Associated Press.
Post-strike assessments have shown that Iran’s nuclear sites suffered damage in both U.S. and Israeli attacks. All three countries — Iran, Israel and the U.S. — have reached similar conclusions about the extent of the damage, despite what a leaked intel report indicated.
The foreign minister might want to consider going into hiding. Meanwhile, this is what total victory looks like for Iran:
Related: Trump Doesn't Mince Words in Responding to Ayatollah Khamenei's 'Total Victory' Claim
Who Wants to Tell Him? Ayatollah Khamenei Finally Reappears, Declares 'Total Victory'
At this point, it would seem that only CNN, The New York Times and the Ayatollah believe that the 14 massive GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs dropped and the cruise missile strikes didn’t do the job:
Khamenei appears to be more focused on projecting strength than reflecting reality. He described Iran’s attack on Al-Udeid, the American airbase in Qatar, as a "heavy slap to the U.S.’s face." While President Donald Trump dismissed it as a "very weak response" and thanked Iran for giving the U.S. "early notice."
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Tuesday that the agency had "seen extensive damage at several nuclear sites in Iran, including its uranium conversion and enrichment facilities."
As to resuming negotiations with the U.S., Aragachi said there was a possibility they would happen, but that “No agreement has been made for resuming the negotiations.” He continued: “No time has been set, no promise has been made, and we haven’t even talked about restarting the talks.”
Trump, for his part, indicated on Thursday that he's not overly concerned with whether negotiations continue or not because the B-2 stealth bombers have said all that needs to be said for the time being.
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