‘A new chapter’: Leader says Iran will determine ‘new legal rules’ in Strait of Hormuz

Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, declared the dawn of a "new chapter" for the strategic waterway, asserting that Iran will implement new management rules over the Strait of Hormuz following recent US-Israeli aggression against the country. 

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a message on Thursday marking National Persian Gulf Day. On April 30, Iran annually commemorates its historic 1622 triumph over colonial occupation along its southern coastline.

This year's observance comes exactly two months after the US and Israeli regime launched an unprovoked military aggression against Iran on February 28.

Ayatollah Khamenei described the Persian Gulf as an “irreplaceable blessing” for the Muslim nations of the region, noting that this body of water and the Strait of Hormuz have “shaped a part of our identity and civilization and, in addition to being a connecting point for nations, create a vital and unique route for the global economy.”

“This strategic asset has provoked the greed of many devils in past centuries, and the history of repeated aggressions by European and American foreigners, insecurities, damages, and numerous threats to the countries of the region are only a fraction of the ominous plots of the world's arrogant powers against the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf region, the latest example of which was the recent thuggery of the Great Satan,” he added, referring to the US-Israeli aggression on Iran which began on February 28.

Possesses the longest land coast of the Persian Gulf, he continued, the Iranian nation has made “the greatest sacrifices for the independence of the Persian Gulf and the confrontation with foreigners and aggressors; from the expulsion of the Portuguese and the liberation of the Strait of Hormuz to the struggle against Dutch colonialism and the epics of resistance against British colonialism, and so on.”

The Islamic Revolution, he stressed, has been a “turning point of these resistances in severing the hands of the arrogant powers from the Persian Gulf region.”

“Today, two months after the largest military expedition and aggression by the world's bullies in the region and America's humiliating defeat in its plot, a new chapter for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is unfolding,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.

US main factor of insecurity in region

The Leader noted that nations of the region witnessed the “vigilance” of the Iranian naval forces in the past 60 days.

“The nations of the Persian Gulf region, who for many years had grown accustomed to the silence and submissiveness of their rulers in the face of bullies and aggressors, have witnessed with their own eyes over the past sixty days the beautiful manifestations of solidity, vigilance, and endeavor by the brave men of the naval forces of the Army and the IRGC, alongside the zeal and gallantry of the people and youth of the southern region of dear Iran, in rejecting foreign domination,” he wrote.

Following the latest imposed war on Iran, it has been “proven not only among global public opinion and the nations of the region, but even to the rulers of countries, that the presence of American foreigners and their nesting and establishing footholds in the lands of the Persian Gulf is the most important factor of insecurity in the region,” he added.

“America's hollow bases do not even have the endurance and capability to secure themselves, let alone there being any hope for America to secure its regional dependents,” highlighted the Leader as Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes devastated US bases in the region during the 40-day war.

'Foreigners have no place in region except at the bottom of its waters'

He noted that the future of the Persian Gulf will be “bright” and without the presence of the US.

“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 nations,” he wrote, adding that Iran shares a “common destiny” with the neighbors of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

However, he added, “Foreigners who, from thousands of kilometers away, greedily commit atrocities within it, have no place in it except at the bottom of its waters.”

“The chain of this triumph,” he continued, “which by the grace of God has been realized under the shadow of the measures and policies of resistance and the strategy of a strong Iran, will be the vanguard of the new regional and global order.”

‘Miraculous awakening’

“Today, the miraculous awakening of the Iranian nation is not limited to tens of millions of people ready to sacrifice their lives in the fight against Zionism and the bloodthirsty America,” he added, referring to the more than 30 million Iranians who have signed a campaign in Iran to sacrifice their lives for the homeland amid the foreign aggression.

“Rather, at the forefront of the united ranks of the resurrected Islamic Ummah, ninety million zealous and noble Iranian compatriots inside and outside the country consider all their identity, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial, and basic and modern technological capacities—from nano and bio to nuclear and missile—as their national asset, and they will guard them just as they do their maritime, land, and aerial borders,” he wrote.

‘New management’ of Strait of Hormuz

“Islamic Iran, through practical gratitude for the blessing of exercising management over the Strait of Hormuz, will secure the Persian Gulf region and will dismantle the hostile enemy's abuses of this waterway,” Ayatollah Khamenei stressed, noting that the waterway will be managed by new rules.

“The legal rules and the exercise of the new management of the Strait of Hormuz will bring about comfort and progress to the benefit of all nations in the region, and its economic blessings will gladden the nation's heart; by the permission of Allah, even if the disbelievers despise it,” he added.

In part of the response to the US-Israeli aggression, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping linked to aggressor countries and their supporters.

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