Iran will retaliate if attacked, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned in response to US President Donald Trump’s recent threat to bomb the country. In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, Trump said that if Tehran does not accept his deal and wind down its nuclear program, it will be bombed. “If they don’t make a deal there will be bombing. And it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” he was quoted as saying. Any such attack will face a strong retaliation, Khamenei responded in a speech in Tehran on Monday. “The US and the Zionist regime threaten to commit vicious acts. Of course, if such vicious acts are committed, they will definitely receive a strong, reciprocal blow,” Khamenei’s English-language account on X stated. “If the US and the Zionist regime are thinking of stirring up a sedition inside Iran, as they’ve done in some previous years, the Iranian nation itself will answer them” he added. The escalating rhetoric follows years of tension over Tehran's nuclear program. During his first presidential term, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an international agreement to scale down the Iranian nuclear program in return for the easing of international sanctions on Tehran. Following the US withdrawal and resumed sanctions, Iran reportedly reduced its compliance with the agreement. International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said late last year that Iran was ramping up its enrichment of uranium to 60% purity, and expressed concern. The material needs to be around 90% enriched to be considered weapons-grade. Iran has dismissed the accusation, and insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful and legal under “international frameworks.” In early March, Trump said he sent a letter to Khamenei suggesting resuming talks about the deal and specified that he was giving Iran two months to comply. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded by calling on Washington to first rebuild trust with Tehran that has been broken by the US. During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, he refused direct talks but said “the path of indirect negotiations is open.”