The New York Times reports:

Iran’s supreme leader issued a rare statement on Thursday saying that the United States had no place in the future of the Persian Gulf region and making clear that his country planned to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway going forward.

In the defiant message, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also vowed that Iran would retain its nuclear capabilities. The lengthy statement from the Iranian leader, who has not been seen in public since he was named to the top post nearly two months ago, was shared by his office.

It touched on two of the thorniest issues stalling talks on permanently ending the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began in late February and paused when a cease-fire was reached this month. Those positions put Iran at odds with the United States, which has sought to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and insisted that it cannot restrict use of the Strait of Hormuz to vessels of its choosing.

“By the will and power of God, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America,” said the statement, which was released on Iran’s National Day of the Persian Gulf, an annual commemoration of a 1622 military victory over Portugal in the Strait of Hormuz.

Of the battle over the narrow waterway, one of the most important shipping routes for global oil supplies, the statement said: “Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometers away, acting maliciously out of greed, have no place there, except at the bottom of its waters.”

It went on to say that Iran would implement “new legal frameworks and management of the Strait of Hormuz,” suggesting that the country had no plans to relinquish control over the shipping route. Such a system, it added, would benefit its neighbors and prove economically fruitful. [Continue reading…]