Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has blamed the US military presence in the Middle East for insecurity.
Khamenei, speaking in a written statement read by a state television anchor as he has since taking over as Iran’s Supreme Leader, struck a defiant tone.
The Iranian Supreme Leader said that “it has been proven … that the presence of American foreigners and their nesting and nesting in the lands of the Persian Gulf is the most important factor in insecurity in the region.”
“America’s puppet bases do not even have the strength and capacity to ensure their own security, let alone that there is any hope that America will provide security to its dependents and American-loving people in the region.”
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei
Iran, since the start of the war, has been warning regional countries, particularly the Gulf states, that the reason Iran is firing projectiles at Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is because of the US military presence in the region. It is also asking the GCC countries to distance themselves from the US and also somehow put an end to the US military bases in the region.
Also, Khamenei asserted that a “new chapter” has emerged in the Strait of Hormuz amid the US’ “shameful failure.”
“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.”
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei
He noted that the Strait of Hormuz has “aroused the greed of many devils in past centuries,” Khamenei said, referencing historical events including the expulsion of Portuguese troops in 1622. However, since the US-Israel war on Iran started in late February, he said, Iranians “have witnessed with their own eyes … the beautiful manifestations of the steadfastness, vigilance, and courageous struggle” of Iranian forces.
The leader claimed that “the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America and in the service of the progress, comfort, and prosperity of its peoples.”
“We and our neighbors across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the (Gulf) of Oman share a common destiny. 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.”
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei
His remarks come as a US Navy blockade halting Iran’s oil tankers from getting out to sea remains in place. Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude for June delivery reached as much as $126 a barrel in trading today, Thursday, April 30, 2026, as Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.
With a fragile ceasefire in place, the US and Iran are locked in a standoff over the strait. The US blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store oil.
Khamenei Vows Iran To Closely Guard Nuclear, Missile Capabilities
Moreover, Khamenei emphasized that Iran will closely guard its nuclear and missile capabilities, an apparent rebuke to Trump’s desire to dismantle them.
He asserted that Iranians view the country’s nuclear and missile capabilities “as their national capital and will guard them like water, land and air borders.”
His remarks likely seeks to draw a hard line as US President Donald Trump seeks a wider deal to cement the shaky ceasefire now holding in the war. Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Khamenei’s remarks signaled that nuclear issues and Iran’s ballistic missile program wouldn’t be traded 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.”
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei
A recent Iranian proposal would push negotiations on the country’s nuclear program to a later date. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons. Iran, however, has long maintained its program is peaceful, though it enriched uranium at near-weapons-grade levels of 60%.
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