(MENAFN) Iran’s highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has alleged that U.S. President Donald Trump overstated the effectiveness of recent American air raids on Iranian atomic installations, asserting that the strikes yielded no meaningful outcomes.

In a declaration published on his verified X platform account on Sunday, Khamenei stated, “The American president exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration.”

He further remarked, “Anyone who heard those words understood that beneath their surface, another truth existed. They couldn’t do anything and exaggerated to cover up and conceal the truth.”

Earlier, President Trump had told a news agency in an interview, “we went in. We destroyed their nuclear capability, and we stopped. It was a beautiful thing. And they couldn’t have gone on much further…That was a very intense 12 days -- very, very intense.”

Tensions between Israel and Iran escalated sharply on June 13, when Israel commenced aerial assaults targeting Iranian defense, atomic, and civilian locations.

According to Iran’s Health Ministry, at least 606 individuals lost their lives, and 5,332 were wounded during the strikes.

The United States subsequently intensified the conflict by launching attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.

In response, Tehran carried out missile and drone attacks against Israeli territory, resulting in the deaths of at least 29 individuals and injuring over 3,400, based on data published by Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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