The supreme leader of Iran, despite questions of his health and active hold on the country in crisis, is signaling no retreat on the country’s core military programs even as President Donald Trump seeks peace.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, while reportedly in questionable health, issued a Persian Gulf Day statement online, vowing the Islamic Republic would protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” and drawing a hard line as tensions remain high over the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s confrontation with the U.S.
Khamenei also escalated his rhetoric against Washington, saying the only place for the American military in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters.”
“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,” a translation of the statement read.
“We and our neighbors across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the (Gulf) of Oman share a common destiny. Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometers away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it – except at the bottom of its waters.”
He cast the U.S. as an outside power with no legitimate role in the region and said the Gulf’s future should be “without America.”
“Two months after the world’s biggest military campaign and aggression in the region and America’s shameful failure in its plan, a new chapter is dawning in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement read.
Among the strongest quotes from the Iranian leader, as translated:
– “The foreigners who greedily commit evil in it from thousands of kilometers away have no place in it except in the depths of its waters.”
– “Ninety million brave and honorable Iranian compatriots … consider all the capacities of identity, spirituality, humanity, science, industry and basic and new technologies — from nano and bio to nuclear and missile — as their national capital and will guard them like water, land and air borders.”
– “With practical gratitude for the blessing of implementing management of the Strait of Hormuz, Islamic Iran will secure the Persian Gulf region and eliminate the hostile enemy’s abuses of this waterway.”
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