Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement on Thursday that the future of the Persian Gulf is without a US presence and vowed that Tehran would set “new legal frameworks” for the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement, which commemorated Iran’s Persian Gulf National Day, was issued through Iranian media as Khamenei has yet to make a public appearance since being chosen as his father’s successor due to the threat of being killed by the US and Israel.
“America’s hollow bases can barely guarantee their own safety, let alone that of their dependents or pro-American allies in the area,” Khamenei said, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.
“By divine will, the future of the Persian Gulf will be bright—a future free of America, devoted to progress, peace, and prosperity for its nations. We, the peoples and neighbors of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, share a common destiny, and the foreigners who covetously meddle here from thousands of kilometers away have no rightful place, except at the depths of its waters,” the Iranian leader added.
Regarding Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, Khamenei said that the “new legal framework and management system for the Strait of Hormuz will advance comfort and development for all the region’s nations, and its economic benefits will bring joy to the nation.”
Khamenei’s statement comes amid the continued US blockade on Iranian ports, which has been the main obstacle to further peace talks between the US and Iran. Also on Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian released a statement to mark Iran’s Persian Gulf National Day, where he strongly condemned the US blockade.
“Our enemies should know that the Persian Gulf is not an arena for imposing unilateral foreign wills, but rather is a part of the system of international interactions and its security only makes sense in light of collective cooperation and mutual respect for the sovereignty of its coastal countries,” Pezeshkian said.
