In Rare Sermon, Iran Leader Praises Missile Attack, Accuses U.S. Of Using Plane Tragedy As Distraction

In a rare appearance on Friday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, praised the country’s missile strike on a U.S. airbase earlier this month while bashing President Trump as an untrustworthy clown and accusing the U.S. of using Iran’s downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, which Iran initially tried to cover up, as a distraction.

“The fact that Iran has the power to give such a slap to a world power shows the hand of God,” Khamenei said, according to Reuters.