Ayatollah vows to ‘never surrender' after US blitz deadline as warmongering Russia says ‘world on brink of catastrophe'
SUPREME leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said he will "never surrender" as the US prepares to join Israel's campaign of bombing Iran.
It comes as warmongering Russia today ironically warned the world sits "on the brink of catastrophe" as the raging Middle East conflict enters day six.
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Khamenei today said Tehran will "never surrender" as he warned against the US intervention in the conflict.
In his first statement since the escalation of bombings over the last few days, Khamenei said "The battle begins".
He warned that the US will face hell if it enters the war and drops a single bomb on Tehran.
'This nation will never surrender,' Khamenei said in a speech read on state television.
'America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage.'
The speech came six days into the conflict, with Trump calling for Iran's "unconditional surrender".
Trump even stepped up his rhetoric, saying that the US knows where Khamenei is located but will not kill him 'for now'.
US officials stressed he has not yet made a decision about any intervention.
Meanwhile Vladimir Putin - who has been waging an illegal war against Ukraine - called for a cessation of hostilities between the two sides.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the world was 'millimetres away from catastrophe' due to daily Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that direct US military assistance to Israel could radically destabilise the situation in the Middle East.
Ali Khamenei, 86, and his family are believed to have bolted to a fortified underground hiding place in a suburb of capital Tehran.
He went to ground after swathes of military top brass and nuclear scientists were wiped out in simultaneous surgical strikes at the start of Israel's Operation Rising Lion on Friday.
Trump held a crisis meeting in the White House Situation Room yesterday, discussing whether to enter the US into the war.
After the 80-minute gathering, US officials indicated that the next 24 to 48 hours would be crucial in determining whether diplomacy could be achieved with Iran, ABC News reports.
This would likely include an "unconditional surrender," as well as an ironclad agreement to dismantle Iran's whole nuclear programme.
But if such commitments from Iran aren't agreed, Trump may resort to military action on the Middle Eastern country instead.
Experts have dubbed the Ayatollah's refusal to concede Iran's uranium enrichment program as "regime suicide".
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