{"id":2610663,"date":"2026-06-04T13:47:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ayatollah-says-iran-has-defeated-us-as-trump-rubio-affirm-he-is-involved\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T13:47:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:47:43","slug":"ayatollah-says-iran-has-defeated-us-as-trump-rubio-affirm-he-is-involved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ayatollah-says-iran-has-defeated-us-as-trump-rubio-affirm-he-is-involved\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayatollah says Iran has &#8216;defeated&#8217; US as Trump, Rubio affirm he is &#8216;involved&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fayatollah-says-iran-has-defeated-us-as-trump-rubio-affirm-he-is-involved%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2610663&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In recent months, the U.S. has portrayed Iran\u2019s alleged new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, as weak or even possibly dead. However, that assessment has shifted after a Thursday statement in which he declared victory over \u201cimperialism, led by the U.S.\u201d and referred to Israel as a \u201cmilitary base called Israel.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>In the address, distributed via Iranian state media, Khamenei claimed the enemy was defeated in both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/zelensky-prioritizes-ukraines-financial-stability-in-biden-call-as-russia-panic-threatens-economy\/\" title=\"Zelensky Prioritizes Ukraine&#039;s &#039;Financial Stability&#039; in Biden Call as Russia Panic Threatens Economy\">military terms<\/a> and in \u201cpublic squares and streets,\u201d attributing Iran\u2019s struggle to \u201chybrid warfare\u201d aimed at undermining Iranian morale and sowing doubt, fear, and mistrust. He urged Iranians to remain \u201csteadfast\u201d and to avoid repeating the enemy\u2019s narrative.  <\/p>\n<p>The tone contrasts with earlier comments from President Donald Trump, who said he respects Khamenei and would like to meet him. Trump also acknowledged Khamenei\u2019s involvement in the regime, contradicting prior U.S. claims that he was sidelined. Earlier, the president and other U.S. officials had suggested Khamenei\u2019s limited role, questioned whether he was alive, and described him as having injury and little legitimacy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Khamenei has been in contact with the U.S. through intermediaries, and that staying out of public view may be safer given risks to other leaders. Trump further rejected reports that U.S.-Iran communications had been paused, saying conversations have been continuous.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the months since <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mojtaba-khamenei\/\">Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a> became the supreme leader following the assassination of his father, he has been characterized by the U.S. government as an ineffectual leader, and possibly even dead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in the last several days, that rhetoric has pivoted \u2014 concurrent with a surprise statement on Thursday from the ayatollah, declaring victory over \u201cimperialism, led by the U.S.\u201d and its \u201cmilitary base called Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4594580\/freedom250-fuel-leak-national-mall-smaller\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Freedom250 says fuel leak on National Mall was smaller than initially reported<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4594607\/trump-blasts-four-republicans-voted-war-powers-resolution-unpatriotic\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump blasts Republicans who voted against him in war powers resolution: \u2018Unpatriotic\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4593195\/trump-losses-gop-iowa-kennedy-center\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump faces a string of losses after riding high over the GOP<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe malicious enemy has been defeated in its confrontation with the Armed Forces,\u201d Khamenei <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MKhamenei_ir\/status\/2062465704025039332\">wrote<\/a> in the statement, which was published and read out by Iranian state media. \u201cSince it has received a decisive blow both in military combat and in [Iran\u2019s] public squares and streets, it\u2019s experiencing a profound, significant humiliation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A woman holds a portrait of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a ceremony honoring the armed forces and those killed in the war with Israel and the U.S. at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe enemy has focused its schemes in hybrid warfare on two points: the resilience of the Iranian people and trying to create errors in the assessments of the country\u2019s officials,\u201d the ayatollah said. \u201cThe instrument it\u2019s using for both is sowing the seeds of doubt, despair, fear, mistrust, and discord.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4485445\/mojtaba-khamenei-profile-iran-supreme-leader\/\">supreme leader<\/a> called for Iranians to show \u201csteadfastness\u201d and \u201cclear-sightedness\u201d to thwart enemies\u2019 \u201csinister scheme\u201d by \u201crefraining from echoing the enemy\u2019s narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Thursday declaration of victory from Tehran carried a bellicose tone. But just days prior, President Donald Trump offered a rather friendly assessment of the supreme leader, saying the Iranian people \u201chave a lot of respect for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019d like to meet him,\u201d Trump told the<em> New York Post<\/em> in a Tuesday interview. \u201cI\u2019d love to meet everybody. I would like to meet him and we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ayatollah has <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4489443\/mojtaba-khamenei-first-statement-not-on-camera\/\">not appeared in public<\/a> since he was injured in a bombing of the Council of Experts at the beginning of the war. Khamenei has not delivered any addresses in person, on video, or via audio recording. His speeches, including the Thursday declaration of victory, are disseminated by Iranian state media organs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the same interview, Trump confirmed that the ayatollah is \u201cinvolved, absolutely\u201d in the affairs of the regime \u2014 countering previous rhetoric from the U.S. government that framed Khamenei as iced out of power by the establishment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back in March, Trump hand-waved Khamenei as a \u201clightweight\u201d who \u201cisn\u2019t going to last.\u201d Asked directly if the ayatollah was even alive, the president said he was \u201cprobably alive in some form.\u201d Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the \u201cso-called not-so supreme leader\u201d was \u201cscared,\u201d \u201cinjured,\u201d and \u201con the run\u201d because he \u201clacks legitimacy\u201d within the Iranian government. Other statements from the White House reported that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-putin-cracks-down-on-top-intelligence-military-officials-over-failures-in-ukraine\/\" title=\"Report: Putin Cracks Down On Top Intelligence, Military ... Over Failures In Ukraine\">intelligence officials suspected<\/a> the ayatollah of being a closeted homosexual.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday, affirmed there are \u201cindications out there that [Khamenei] is increasingly engaging at some level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4594607\/trump-blasts-four-republicans-voted-war-powers-resolution-unpatriotic\/\">TRUMP BLASTS REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED AGAINST HIM IN WAR POWERS RESOLUTION: \u2018UNPATRIOTIC\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen him publicly,\u201d Rubio said, explaining the supreme leader has been in contact with the U.S. through an extensive network of intermediaries. \u201cAnd I would imagine given what\u2019s happened to multiple leaders in that system, being very public is probably not something that\u2019s recommended for them internally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday that reports of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4592621\/trump-iran-no-nuclear-new-interview-takeaways\/\">Iran and the United States pausing communications<\/a> are \u201cfalse and erroneous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since taking power, U.S. called Ayatollah Khamenei ineffective or dead-until his surprise victory claim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2610664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26144494874370.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6091,78423,80834,5438,3634],"class_list":["post-2610663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ayatollah","tag-iran-us-relations-2","tag-nuclear-diplomacy","tag-rubio","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26144494874370.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2610663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610667,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610663\/revisions\/2610667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2610664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2610663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2610663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2610663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}