Newsletters
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei declared on Thursday that "a new chapter is emerging in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz" following what he called "America's shameful failure in its own plan."
Marking National Persian Gulf Day with a sweeping statement that described a "brilliant future for the region without America," as he warned that foreigners "have no place in the Gulf except at the bottom of its waters."
Khamenei said in the Tasnim News Agency-circulated statement, "Today, two months after the world's biggest campaign and aggression in the region and America's shameful failure in its own plan, a new chapter is emerging in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz."
He described the Persian Gulf as "one of Allah's irreplaceable gifts to the Muslim nations of our region, especially the noble people of Islamic Iran, a blessing beyond a body of water that has shaped part of our identity and civilization."
In his most provocative passage, Khamenei said: "We are 'co-destined' with our neighbors in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Foreigners who from thousands of kilometers away greedily wreak havoc there have no place in it, except at the bottom of its waters."
He said even "sultans and rulers of countries" had now understood that "the presence of American foreigners and their nesting in the lands of the Persian Gulf is the most important factor of insecurity in the region, and America's hollow bases cannot even secure themselves, let alone be expected to provide security for the region's dependents and America-worshippers."
"With divine power, the brilliant future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America and in the service of the progress, comfort and welfare of its nations," Khamenei said.
He added that the past 60 days had shown Gulf nations "the beautiful manifestations of the steadfastness, alertness and valor of the brave men of the Army and IRGC naval forces alongside the courage and bravery of the people and youth of southern Iran in rejecting foreign domination," calling this "the dawn of a new regional and global order."
Khamenei framed the current conflict within a long arc of Iranian resistance, from the expulsion of the Portuguese from Hormuz in 1622, resistance against Dutch colonialism, British colonialism and now the United States, which he described as the latest "Great Satan aggression."
He claimed that the Islamic Revolution "was the turning point of these resistances in shortening the hand of the arrogant from the Persian Gulf region."
"With practical gratitude for the blessing of implementing management of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will secure the Persian Gulf region and will eliminate the hostile enemy's abuses of this waterway," Khamenei said.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
3 min read
