In rare Friday sermon, Iran’s Khamenei says U.S. suffered blow to ‘superpower image’

ISTANBUL — Iran's supreme leader used a rare public sermon Friday to rally Iranians and reclaim the official narrative after an unprecedented confrontation with the United States and the downing of a passenger plane, which sparked days of anti-government protests.

Addressing tens of thousands of worshipers at the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's top political and religious authority, said the country had passed through an "extraordinary" two weeks, beginning with the U.S. drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force.