Iranian Supreme Leader responds to Trump’s threat with “The battle begins”

STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
NEW DELHI, JUNE 18 (STC): Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his first social media post since US President Donald Trump’s threats of unconditional surrender, has issued a warning to Israel on X, saying, “The battle begins.”
“Ali returns to Khaybar,” the post says, according to a translation by the Iran International news outlet. The statement is a reference to the first imam of Shia Islam and his conquest of the Jewish town of Khaybar in the 7th century, reported The Times of Israel. The post was originally shared in Farsi.
The post includes an image of a man holding a sword entering a castle-like gate, with fiery streaks in the sky overhead.
Minutes later, Khamenei posted another warning to Israel: “We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.”
Meanwhile, the conflict between Israel and Iran entered its sixth day. An India Today report states that the two nations traded new missile strikes at each other on Wednesday despite a call from US President Donald Trump for Iran’s unconditional surrender. Quoting the Israeli military, the report says two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched toward Israel in the first two hours of Wednesday morning. Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv.
Notably, US president Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that the United States has full control of Iranian airspace, stating that Iran’s defence systems, including advanced tracking equipment, are no match for American-made military technology.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff.’ Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA.”
The US is deploying more fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other warplanes, according to news agency Reuters.
(STC)