Yoav Gallant
Yoav GallantChaim Goldberg FLASH90

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued a formal response to an open letter from former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, dismissing it as propaganda and accusing Israel of launching a psychological operation.

In a statement published Monday on Khamenei's official website, Iranian authorities characterized Gallant's message as an attempt to sway public perception rather than a reflection of military reality.

"This is not a letter of substance, but a message rooted in theatrics, part of a broader effort to shape global opinion and distort facts," the statement read. It further claimed that the letter served as part of "a conflict whose primary battlefield is not border zones, but public perception and the realm of awareness."

Gallant's letter, dated July 9, asserted that Israel and the United States had inflicted strategic damage on Iran during the 12-day conflict last month, describing it as the collapse of Iran's regional strategy. He wrote, "What unfolded in June 2025 was not merely a military campaign. It was the strategic collapse of a system you spent four decades constructing."

The letter emphasized Israel's intelligence superiority, stating, "We knew your schedules. Your sites. Your communications. Your conversations with your closest allies—most of whom are no longer with you—in Beirut, Damascus, and Tehran. Your timelines. Your fallback plans. And your blind spots."

Gallant warned that Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon was now "an act of faith in systems that have already failed you," adding, "To protect a nuclear program, you need conventional defensive and offensive capabilities. But those capabilities have already proven ineffective."

He also pointed to the dismantling of Iran's regional proxy network, claiming, "Hezbollah’s arsenal lies in ruins, buried with its commanders. Hamas is neutralized. Assad is gone. His successor has chosen a different path. The Gulf states now align against you, not with you. Iraq resists your grip. The region has moved on."

"You can rebuild your proxies," Gallant continued, "But we will destroy them. We can now dismantle in months what took you decades to build."

While the Iranian response did not directly refute each of Gallant's claims, it portrayed the letter as a desperate effort to bolster Israel's image following months of regional unrest. Iranian officials emphasized that the resistance front remains active and claimed that Iran retains the strategic depth and support required to continue its policies in the region.

"Attempts to declare victory through letters and slogans cannot substitute for realities on the ground," the statement added.