Sri Lanka, June 26 -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday his country had "delivered a hand slap to America's face" and warned against any further U.S. attacks in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared with Israel.

Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first appearance since June 19, looking and sounding more tired than he did only a week ago.

He told viewers that the U.S. had only intervened in the war because "it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed."

But he said that the U.S. "achieved no gains from this war."

"The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America's face," he said, ...