Iran’s supreme leader has issued an ominous statement, saying the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters.”
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement read by a state television anchor Thursday.
He added Iran will protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” as a national asset.
His remarks come as Iran’s oil industry has started to be heavily affected by a U.S. Navy blockade halting its oil tankers from getting out to sea.
“By God’s help and power, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America, one serving the progress, comfort and prosperity of its people,” Khamenei said in the statement, which was read like all others since he reportedly was wounded in the Feb. 28 attack that killed his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We and our neighbors across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the (Gulf) of Oman share a common destiny,” he continued. “Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometers away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it — except at the bottom of its waters.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place in place as the U.S. and Iran are in a standoff over the strait.
The U.S blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil.
This deprives Iran of crucial revenue and potentially creates a problem where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store oil.
The strait’s closure, however, has put pressure on President Donald Trump, as oil and gasoline prices have surged.
A recent Iranian proposal would push negotiations on the country’s nuclear program to a later date.
Preventing Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons was one if the main reasons Trump went launched Operation Epic Fury.
Iran has said its program is peaceful, though it enriched uranium at near-weapons-grade levels of 60%.
Khamenei’s remarks marked Persian Gulf Day in Iran and signaled nuclear issues and Iran’s ballistic missile program are not on the table to be given away.
“Ninety million proud and honorable Iranians inside and outside the country regard all of Iran’s identity-based, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial and technological capacities — from nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities — as national assets, and will protect them just as they protect the country’s waters, land and airspace,” Khamenei said.
