Iran's Supreme Leader vowed to protect nuclear and missile capabilities
Kyiv • UNN
Iran's Supreme Leader will defend nuclear potential despite US sanctions. Trump initiates the creation of an international coalition to unblock shipping.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday resolutely vowed to protect the Islamic Republic's nuclear and missile capabilities, which U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to limit through airstrikes and as part of a broader deal to solidify a shaky truce in the war, UNN reports, citing AP.
Details
In a statement read by a state television anchor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared that the only place for Americans in the Persian Gulf is "at the bottom of its waters," and that a "new chapter" is being written in the region's history. Khamenei has not appeared in public since assuming the office of Supreme Leader following his father's death in airstrikes at the beginning of the war.
Khamenei's remarks, the publication writes, made it clear that nuclear issues and Iran's ballistic missile program would not be cast aside.
"Ninety million proud and respected Iranians inside and outside the country consider all of Iran's identity, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial, and technological capabilities — from nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities — to be national," Khamenei said.
Khamenei called America the "Great Satan," a long-standing insult Iranian leaders have directed at the U.S. since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
His statements come amid a crisis in the Iranian economy and pressure on the country's oil industry due to a U.S. Navy blockade preventing Iranian tankers from going to sea. The global economy is also under pressure as Iran maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of all oil is transported. On Thursday, the global oil benchmark, Brent crude, was trading at $126 per barrel.
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This shock to oil supplies and prices is putting pressure on Trump, who is putting forward a new plan to reopen this vital route used by U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf to export oil and gas.
Under the plan, the U.S. will continue the blockade of Iranian ports, coordinating with allies to strengthen measures against Iranian attempts to undermine the free flow of energy, a senior administration official said.
In a cable sent Tuesday, the U.S. State Department instructed American diplomats worldwide — with the exception of those in Belarus, China, Cuba, and Russia — to enlist the support of host governments for the Trump administration's call for assistance in creating a "maritime freedom construct" to ensure free and unimpeded access.
"This commitment reflects a broad international consensus on the need for coordinated action to counter Iranian maritime provocations and ensure the rights and freedoms of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," reads the cable, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday.
The initiative, led by the State Department and the Pentagon's Central Command, "is a fundamentally defensive response to protect the rights of all nations to sail freely and safely in international waters and to hold Iran accountable for its aggressive and unlawful actions aimed at obstructing the free flow of commerce," the cable states.