Tehran 17 February 2026 #1

17 February 2026

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that the U.S. “know[s] what future awaits them if they make a mistake… Even the strongest military force in the world may at times be struck so hard that it cannot get up again”. He added: “Any country without deterrent weapons will be crushed by its enemies. Yet the Americans… say that you must not have a certain type or range of missiles. This, however, concerns the Iranian nation and is none of their business”. He also said the nuclear program “concerns the Iranian nation. What does this have to do with you?… They say, ‘come, let’s negotiate about nuclear energy’, but the outcome of the negotiation must be that you have no nuclear energy”.