In this picture released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with thousands of students in Tehran, Iran, Nov 3, 2019. (OFFICE OF THE IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER VIA AP)

TEHRAN / DUBAI — Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday said that the US assassination of Iran's Quds commander, Qassem Soleimani, was a "cowardice act" which hurt its superpower prestige. 

The Americans could not face Soleimani in the battlefield and hit him "furtively," said the Ayatollah in a Friday sermon.

In revenge, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s missiles shower on the US bases in Iraq was also a military "strike" on the US as the superpower, he said.

The fact that Iran has the power to give such a slap to a world power shows the hand of God

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader 

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Iran gave US 'slap on face'

The Ayatollah said Iran's missile strikes on US targets in Iraq this month delivered a "slap on the face" to the United States, showing the Islamic Republic had divine support.

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"The fact that Iran has the power to give such a slap to a world power shows the hand of God," the Ayatollah said, after referring to the launch of missiles against US targets as a "day of God". His comments were met by chants of "Death to America!”

Europeans 'can't be trusted'

The Ayatollah also said that three European states who were party to a nuclear pact from which the United States has already withdrawn could not be trusted, and their actions to put pressure on Iran would not work.

The Ayatollah told thousands of worshippers that the European states “cannot be trusted”, after Britain, France and Germany triggered a formal dispute mechanism in the agreement, which could lead to UN sanctions being reimposed.

He also accused Iran’s “enemies”, a term that usually refers to Washington and its allies, of trying to use Iran’s accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner to overshadow a public show of grief following the US killing of an Iranian general.