Iran’s supreme leader has issued a rare statement against the United States, pledging to protect its interests.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, although reportedly in poor health, issued a Persian Gulf Day statement. “The Islamic Republic of Iran, through the practical gratitude of managing the Strait of Hormuz, will secure the Persian Gulf region and dismantle the enemies’ exploitative schemes in this waterway,” he said in a statement shared on social media. “The legal frameworks and implementation of new management for the Strait will bring peace and progress to the benefit of all the region’s nations, and its economic benefits will gladden the hearts of the people.”
“The presence of American aliens and their nesting in the lands of the Persian Gulf is the most important factor of insecurity in the region, and America’s illusory bases lack even the ability to ensure their own security, let alone any hope that America could provide security for the region’s dependents and Americanophiles,” he said, adding that the region’s “bright future” is one “without America.”
“Those aliens who, from thousands of kilometers away, greedily sow mischief in that [expanse of the blue waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman], have no place there except in the depths of its waters,” Iran’s leader added. “One hundred million proud and noble Iranian compatriots, inside and outside the country, will regard all their national identity capacities—spiritual, human, scientific, industrial, and foundational and cutting-edge technologies—from nano and bio to nuclear and missile—as their national capital, and will safeguard them just as they do their maritime, land, and air borders.”
In March, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Khamenei is wounded and “likely disfigured” as a result of military operations against Iran. “Iran’s leadership is in no better shape,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon press briefing. “Desperate and hiding, they’ve gone underground, cowering. That’s what rats do. We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured.”
