Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday issued an aggressive statement accusing President Trump of violating the U.S.-Iran agreement and pledging a strong response by Iran and its proxies if the fighting continues to escalate.
The statement, carried by state media, came as the fragile U.S.-Iran truce continued to unravel following a week of escalating exchanges. Khamenei accused Washington of breaking the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed last month, pointing specifically to the Trump administration’s decision to revoke waivers that allowed Iran to sell crude oil on international markets.
“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi wrote on X, backing the supreme leader’s position.
Trump declared the agreement “over” during a press conference after the NATO summit in Ankara earlier this month. Since then, the United States and Iran have exchanged strikes across the region. The U.S. has hit more than 160 targets inside Iran since CENTCOM launched renewed strikes on July 8, according to Iranian officials. Washington also reinstated sanctions on Iranian oil sales, a move Tehran considers a direct breach of the deal.
Khamenei’s statement is his most confrontational since he assumed the role of supreme leader following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28. The younger Khamenei has not been seen in public since the war began, but his written statements have grown increasingly belligerent as the fighting intensifies.
The supreme leader said revenge for his father’s death “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” language that appeared to rule out any near-term diplomatic off-ramp.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Ghalibaf, separately accused the United States of “serious violations” of the memorandum, including the new sanctions on Iranian oil and what he called a pattern of “bullying and extortion.” His list of grievances included U.S. strikes on Iranian infrastructure and Israeli operations in Lebanon.
On the ground, the war continues to expand. The U.S. and Iran have struck infrastructure targets across the region, bridges, power plants, and desalination facilities, prompting warnings from human rights groups that either side could be committing war crimes. The Strait of Hormuz remains a central flashpoint, with Tehran insisting it retain control over the waterway and the right to charge ships moving through it.
The question nobody in Washington or Tehran is answering: What would it take to stop the escalation? Khamenei’s statement suggests he believes the deal is already dead. Trump has shown no interest in reviving it. The two sides are trading blows, not negotiating.