Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Thursday he backed extended nuclear talks with world powers, and also took advantage of the opportunity to threaten Israel’s security.

Khamenei said that if the talks, extended on Monday for seven months beyond the November 24 deadline, ultimately failed, “the sky won’t fall to the ground” and that the United States would be the biggest loser if that transpired, according to the Reuters news agency.

“For the same reasons I wasn’t against negotiations, I’m also not against the extension,” Khamenei was quoted as having said on his website.

He added that Tehran’s negotiators were “hard-working and serious … (They) justly and honestly stood against words of force and bullying of the other side, and unlike the other side, they did not change their words every day.”

In another comment issued on his Twitter account, Khamenei said, according to Reuters, “We accept fair and reasonable agreements. Where there’s bullying and excessive demands, all of Iran, people and officials, will not accept.”

Khamenei also said the security of Israel, Tehran’s arch-foe, would decline over time. “Know that whether or not we reach a nuclear agreement, Israel becomes more insecure day by day,” he threatened, without elaborating.

Earlier this week Khamenei, who has on numerous occasions threatened to destroy Israel, referred to the extension of talks and said, “On the nuclear issue, the United States and European colonialist countries gathered and applied their entire efforts to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees but they could not and they will not.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the extension of talks as a victory for his country, saying on Monday, “Our nation has emerged victorious and will be victorious. We have neither compromised over Iran’s nuclear rights, nor will ever do so, and there is no doubt that the Iranian nuclear technology will remain functioning.”