- Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared a future Persian Gulf without United States.
- He stated Iran will safeguard nuclear and missile technologies.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a statement on state television, read aloud by a presenter, on the date when Iran celebrates Persian Gulf National Day.
“Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” Khamenei said.
He said that the future of the Persian Gulf region would be “one without the United States,” saying that “outsiders” who come with greedy intentions had no place there “except at the bottom of its waters.”
The statement from the comparatively new ayatollah, who took up the role following his father’s death in US and Israeli airstrikes, appeared to again indicate Iran’s intentions both to maintain a nuclear program and to impose some kind of new system, such as tolls, for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
He said that Iranians viewed technological capacities including nuclear and missile technologies “as national assets and will safeguard them just as they defend their land, sea and air borders.”
Khamenei also said that Iran would “ensure the security” of the Persian Gulf and “eliminate the misuse of the waterway by hostile enemies.”
“New legal frameworks and management of the Strait of Hormuz will bring comfort and progress to all nations of the region, and its economic benefits will bring joy to the people,” he said, “even if the disbelievers oppose it.”
Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.
