Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said the United States had suffered a “humiliating defeat”, in a message broadcast on Thursday, defying threats by US President Donald Trump to extend a blockade of Iranian ports.
“Today, two months after the largest military build-up and attack launched by the tyrants of this world in the region, and after the humiliating defeat of the United States, a new chapter is opening” for the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, he said in remarks carried by state television.
US bases 'hopeless'
Khamenei, who was injured in US-Israeli strikes, has not appeared in public since assuming the post on 9 March. He succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the 28 February attack by the United States and Israel that triggered the war.
The The New York Times reported last week, citing unnamed Iranian officials, that he had been “seriously injured” in the strikes but remained “mentally alert”.
In Thursday’s message, Khamenei said US bases in the region “do not even have the capacity to ensure their own security, let alone offer the slightest hope of security to their allies”.
He also welcomed a “new legal and administrative framework” for the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, describing it as a way to bring “comfort and progress” to countries in the region.
'Doomed to fail'
The strait has become a major flashpoint, with Iran allowing only a limited number of vessels to pass through the waterway, which carries around a fifth of global hydrocarbon consumption. A senior parliamentary official said last week that Tehran had received its first revenues from transit fees imposed on ships.
However, Iran’s restrictions and the US blockade of Iranian ports imposed in response are weighing on the global economy. Iran itself has also been hit, with its currency falling on Wednesday to a record low against the dollar since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
While a senior White House official said the blockade could be extended “for many months”, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday it was “doomed to fail” and would only deepen disruption in the Gulf.
Separately, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz would guarantee a future without US presence in the region.
“Today, by controlling the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will offer itself and its neighbours a future free from American presence and interference,” he said in a post on X marking the national “Persian Gulf Day”.