Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Ali KhameneiReuters

Iran’s youth will witness the demise of Israel and American civilization, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

“You young people should be assured that you will witness the demise of the enemies of humanity, meaning the degenerate American civilization, and the demise of Israel,” Khamenei was quoted as having said in a meeting with students.

He gave no further details, but Khamenei is notorious for his rhetoric against the United States and Israel.

Khamenei regularly verbally attacks Israel. He has several times in the past referred to the Jewish state as a “cancer” and threatened to "annihilate" the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

In late November, Khamenei took to Twitter where he belittled Israel and asserted that it “is clearly weaker than 10, 20 years ago.”

Several days later he took to Twitter again to blast both Israel and the US.

“Today, to hell with the US and Zionist regime for threatening the Iranian nation. Their threats and atrocities have so far failed and will continue to fail; the sanctions will also be defeated by the grace of resistance,” he wrote.

His latest comments come amid renewed tensions between Iran and the United States after Washington sent more military forces to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and Patriot missiles.

Despite the latest tensions, Khamenei said last week that there would be no war with the United States.

Separately, Khamenei distanced himself from the 2015 nuclear deal in his comments on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran last year and reimposed sanctions, saying the accord did not address the Islamic Republic’s missile program and what he saw as their malign influence in the region.

“The way (the nuclear deal) was put into action, I didn’t have much faith (in it),” said Khamenei, according to Reuters. “And we repeatedly told the president and the foreign minister and gave them notice.”

Two weeks ago, Iran notified the remaining signatories to the deal - China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom - that it would halt some commitments under the nuclear deal, a year after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord.