Iran’s supreme leader says the Islamic Republic will protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” as a national asset, likely seeking to draw a hard line as US President Donald Trump seeks a wider deal to cement the shaky ceasefire now holding in the war.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, speaking in a written statement read by a state television anchor, as he has since taking over as Iran’s supreme leader, struck a defiant tone, insisting the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters” and that a “new chapter” was being written in the region’s history.
However, his remarks come as Iran’s oil industry has begun to be squeezed by a US naval blockade halting its oil tankers from getting out to sea.
“By God’s help and power, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America, one serving the progress, comfort and prosperity of its people,” Khamenei said. He reportedly was wounded in the February 28 attack that killed his father, the 86-year-old former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We and our neighbours across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the (Gulf) of Oman share a common destiny. Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometres away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it — except at the bottom of its waters.”
Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Khamenei’s remarks also signalled that nuclear issues and Iran’s ballistic missile program wouldn’t be traded away.
AP
