In a significant development, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, on Thursday targeted US President Donald Trump and said the new management of Strait of Hormuz will bring calm, eliminate enemy’s abuses.
Iran will protect its โnuclear and missile capabilitiesโ: Mojtaba
In a statement, he said that the Islamic Republic will protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” as a national asset, even as US President Donald Trump tries to get a deal on those issues. Mojtaba Khamenei spoke in a written statement read aloud on Iranian state television, as he has since he took over after the February 28 airstrike that killed his 86-year-old father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Ninety million proud and honourable Iranians inside and outside the country regard all of Iran’s identity-based, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial and technological capacities – from nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities – as national assets, and will protect them just as they protect the country’s waters, land and airspace,” Khamenei said.
The supreme leader said the only place Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters,” as the Strait of Hormuz remains in Tehran’s chokehold.
Mojataba says bright future of Iran will be future without US
“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 in the statement.
“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 kilometers away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it – except at the bottom of its waters.”
Trump claims Iran is in a โstate of collapseโ
Earlier, President Trump on Tuesday claimed that Iran “has just” informed the US that it is in a “state of collapse”. “They want us to “Open the Hormuz Strait,” as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation,” Trump posted on social media.
He added that he believes they will be able to sort out reported divisions within the Islamic Republic government about negotiations with the US. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about who on the Iranian side delivered the message, who in the Republican administration received it and whether the communications were conducted directly with the US or through an intermediary.
Trump administration seems unlikely to accept Iran’s offer
Meanwhile, the Trump administration seemed unlikely to accept Iran’s offer to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade on the country. Iran’s proposal also would postpone discussions on its nuclear programme, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to rule that out.
“We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point,” Rubio said in a Fox News interview Monday.
The White House said Trump’s national security team discussed the offer, which was delivered by Pakistan, and Trump would address it later. The offer emerged Monday as Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Russia, long a key backer of Tehran.
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