New chapter unfolding in Persian Gulf, Hormuz; US main source of instability –Iran Supreme Leader
New Delhi: Amid reports about severe health concerns, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a series of fiery statements against the US Thursday, signalling Iran’s confrontational posture amid a fragile ceasefire in the West Asia war.
He also made apparent attacks on US ally United Arab Emirates, and said “Iran will ensure the security of the Persian Gulf”.
His statements were released on state media on the occasion of National Persian Gulf Day, observed on 30 April every year. The day commemorates the success of Iran’s Safavid Empire, aided by the British East India Company, in expelling Portuguese troops from the Strait of Hormuz, ending over a century of colonial control.
In his statement, Mojtaba Khamenei labelled the US as the “main source of instability in the region”.
“A new chapter for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is unfolding. Today, it has been proven to not only the global public opinion but even to the rulers of countries that the US’s presence and establishment in the Persian Gulf is the main source of instability in the region,” his statement said.
He further added, “The US’s flimsy bases lack the resilience and capability even to ensure their own security, let alone provide any hope for US’s dependents and the US-worshippers in the region”.
This was an apparent reference to the Gulf countries, especially US ally UAE which has been the target of Iran’s missile strikes.
“The brilliant future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without the US where the progress, comfort, and prosperity of its nations are served,” he added.
He also emphasised on what he called a “common destiny” among countries bordering the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, while warning that foreign actors operating far from the region “have no place” in its waters.
“We share a common destiny with our neighbors surrounding the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Those foreigners from thousands of kilometers away, who are greedily carrying out transgressions in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, have no place here except at the bottom of its waters.
“Iran will put an end to the hostile enemy’s exploitation of the Strait of Hormuz”, Khamanei said.
Since assuming leadership in March after former Supreme leader and his father Ali Khamanei was assassinated in a joint US-Israeli strike on 28 February, Mojtaba Khamenei has repeatedly vowed retaliation, pledging sustained action against both Washington and Tel Aviv.
Among the most consequential of his remarks have been his repeated warnings tied to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy corridor, including in the latest statement.
In his statement Thursday, Mojtaba Khamenei suggested Iran would assert greater operational control over the passage, describing it as part of a broader effort to counter what he called “hostile exploitation”.
“We will definitely take the management of the Strait of Hormuz to a new phase,” he had said in a statement on 18 April.
The Supreme Leader of Iran is yet to make a public appearance and has been reported to be “seriously wounded”.
His representative in New Delhi, Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, however, told ThePrint at an event Monday that the Supreme Leader was healthy and was administering his responsibilities but remains out of public view due to security concerns.
A New York Times report on 23 April said Mojtaba Khamenei had sustained grievous injuries in his leg during an attack on 28 February.
“One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burnt severely, making it difficult for him to speak,” officials quoted in the report said, adding that “eventually, he will need plastic surgery”.
Iranian state television and the state news agency IRNA have referred to Khamenei as a “wounded war veteran” supreme leader. A statement from Komiteh Emdad, a powerful government religious charity, congratulating him called him a “janbaz jang,” the Persian term for a veteran wounded in war, according to the report.
In March, when Iranian local media asked Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei whether Khamenei had formally assumed his role as the country’s top religious and political authority and commander-in-chief, he declined to answer directly, saying only. “Those who have to receive the message have received the message.”
Citing several anonymous Iranian officials, the NYT report said Khamenei had “at least for now” delegated decision-making to generals in the Revolutionary Guards’ ideological Army, though he remains “mentally sharp”.
It also noted that unlike his father Ali Khamenei, who “exerted absolute power over all decisions about war, peace and negotiations with the United States”, Mojtaba Khamenei “does not play the same role.”
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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