The Tehran Friday prayer leader has said Iran "paid a price" during the recent 40-day war with the United States and Israel but did not collapse in the face of "aggression by two nuclear powers and their partners", Iranian state media reported on May 15.

Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi Fard told worshippers that the Iranian armed forces had held the line against the heaviest military machine in the world, framing the outcome as a vindication of national resilience rather than a clean victory.

"Iran paid a price, but it did not collapse in the face of the aggression of two nuclear powers and their partners. It stood, responded, and made clear the structure of its inner power. The world recognised this truth and thinkers have repeated it many times," Aboutorabi Fard said.

Iranian officials say the war with the US and Israel has killed thousands of people, with the death toll reported at at least 2,076 in one recent count and more than 3,400 in another. The war’s human cost has spread well beyond Iran, with roughly 5,100 people killed across the Middle East by early April,  more than 1,500 in Lebanon, 28 deaths in Israel, dozens in Gulf states, and 13 US service members according to CENTCOM data. 

The  Iranian cleric ranked the conflict alongside what he called Iran's first and second imposed wars, referring to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and earlier interventions, naming the latest confrontation the "Ramadan War" and arguing it remained ongoing.

"Today the Iranian nation is at war with America," he said, addressing senior commanders directly. "You are the builders of the future history of human societies. Those who experience war from close range and make decisions under fire are passing through the toughest and most formative test of their lives."

He named senior military figures including the late armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Pakpour and Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh's successor Nasirzadeh, alongside former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, calling them "men who created might for Iran".

Aboutorabi Fard said the war had exposed what he described as the worn-out state of the US military apparatus and the global isolation of Washington and Israel.

"Standing up to the heaviest military machine in the world, whose budget is more than 100 times the budget of the Iranian armed forces, was not just a military event. It was a great cultural and scientific event, an exhibition of the knowledge, technology, steadfastness and endurance of the Iranian people," he said.

"America wanted to erase Iran today, but unintentionally reminded the world of Iran's celebrated past and gave new life to the Persian epic poet," Aboutorabi Fard said.

The cleric paid tribute to emergency workers, Red Crescent personnel, medical staff, teachers, firefighters and labourers, alongside the armed forces, as having held the front line in what he termed the field of daily life during the war.

Iran sustained extensive infrastructure damage during the conflict, including strikes on energy facilities, telecommunications networks and military installations, prompting wide-scale internet restrictions and disruption to commercial activity.