President Donald Trump is a “loudmouth” and a “windbag,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told a group of young athletes on October 20, 2025, breaking months of near-silence as he remains largely in hiding since the twelve-day war with Israel in June 2025.
The supreme leader’s official website quoted him as saying: “This man tried through vulgar behavior and numerous lies about the region, Iran, and the Iranian people to boost the morale of the Zionists and present himself as powerful. But if he truly has such power, let him go and calm the millions across U.S. states who are chanting slogans against him.”
“If he truly has such power, let him go and calm the millions across U.S. states who are chanting slogans against him.”
Khamenei’s attack ended a stretch of unusual caution by the regime’s leadership after Israel and the United States dealt blows to Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure in June. Officials, visibly shaken, openly feared another round of strikes. Earlier this month, however, Trump softened his tone, saying he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal. Reports also circulated that Israel had sent a message through Russia promising not to resume airstrikes.
Khamenei pushed back, mocking Trump’s boasts about destroying Iran’s nuclear program. “Fine, keep telling yourselves that. But who are you to dictate what a country may or may not have when it comes to a nuclear industry? What does Iran’s possession of facilities and nuclear technology have to do with America? These interventions are improper, false, and coercive.”
The supreme leader also dismissed Trump’s overtures for negotiations. “He says he is a man of deals, but if a deal comes with bullying and a predetermined outcome, it is not a deal at all—it is coercion and imposition. The Iranian people will not submit to coercion.”
Khamenei not only faces heavy U.S. and international sanctions, a tattered military, and defeated regional allies, but multiple crises have also destabilized his unique authoritarian system of governance. Many officials, sensing that a major change may be coming, are vying for influence and working to weaken their rivals within the system.
Direct and indirect accusations, mutual recriminations, and leaks have multiplied in recent weeks. In the past, Khamenei responded to internal disputes by urging officials to temper their disagreements. This time, while remaining in hiding, he has avoided any reference to the infighting.
High-level figures such as former president Hassan Rouhani and former Supreme National Security Council chairman Ali Shamkhani have turned their fire on each other. Shamkhani recently accused Rouhani of lying about when he learned that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet in 2020. Rouhani claimed the military informed him only after two days; Shamkhani insisted he knew within hours of the January 8 disaster.
For now, Khamenei projects confidence in confronting the United States.
Observers link the feud to Rouhani’s effort to boost his visibility as a potential leader in a post-Khamenei era or amid regime collapse. Khamenei’s son Mojtaba remains a serious contender as well. Both reformist figures and self-styled revolutionaries have built careers and fortunes off the system’s corruption and now face uncertainty about their futures if a major change unfolds.
Although Khamenei has sidelined reformists in recent years, he has allowed them to remain inside the system and benefit from it. Yet there are no guarantees after his death, and hardliners appear eager to seize all political and economic spoils if given the chance.
An X account in Persian calling itself “Mossad Farsi” wrote on October 20, “A man who calls himself the ‘Leader’ has practically become incapacitated and can no longer carry out his duties. He cannot focus for more than ten minutes and has completely lost the ability to grasp reality or connect with it. Iran is being run by his team of advisers. There is no leader, no policy, no functioning state. Authority has collapsed, and everyone goes their own way, doing whatever they please.”
But for now, Khamenei projects confidence in confronting the United States. In his speech, he cited anti-Trump protests in America as proof of U.S. weakness. Meanwhile, his trusted ally, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani, traveled to Moscow last week and returned with a message he delivered directly to him. The content of Larijani’s talk remains secret, but it clearly offered no discomfort to “the leader of the Muslims,” as his loyalists call him, and perhaps explains why Khamenei increasingly feels confident enough to turn his rhetorical fire on Trump now.
