Iran06 June, 20262 min read
Ali Akbar Velayati Says Iran’s Growing Power Redraws Regional Influence Map
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Velayati, adviser to Iran’s Leader on international affairs. Lasting peace requires a balance of power, not empty promises.
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Velayati: Power, not pledges
Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said on Saturday that “the nightmare long feared by Western strategists” has become a reality as Iran’s power grows and “the map of influence in the region is being redrawn.” In a post on the “X” platform monitored by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), Velayati said Reuters and The Guardian acknowledged US President Donald Trump’s need for a temporary agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He framed that as “a collapse of the pressure doctrine against Iran and a victory for the axis of resistance,” and warned against “the new architecture of power” being built “at the expense of resistance.” Velayati also cautioned that “diplomatic illusions come at a high price,” arguing that lasting peace can only emerge from “a balance of power, not from the illusions of empty promises.”
Aoun dispute and resistance
Iranian adviser Ali Akbar Velayati warned against “empty promises” and compromise with the enemy, saying “lasting peace can only be achieved through a balance of power” in a post on X on Saturday. The Daily Excelsior report said Velayati’s remarks were seen as indirectly addressing Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who has called for the disarmament of Hezbollah and criticized Iran’s regional role.
It quoted Aoun telling Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), “It’s not your country, it’s our country,” and said Aoun accused Iran of using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations with the United States. The same report tied the dispute to negotiations between Tehran and Washington, noting that Aoun was “compelled by circumstances despite a ceasefire between Tehran and Washington in April.”
Strait of Hormuz and nuclear
Velayati’s argument about Western media acknowledgements centered on US President Donald Trump’s need for a temporary agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which multiple Iranian outlets described as evidence of “the failure of the doctrine of threatening Iran.” In the Daily Excelsior account, the same broader negotiation context included President Trump saying that only the U.S. and China have the capability to retrieve enriched uranium from Iran’s buried nuclear sites.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “We attacked their nuclear sites and they were obliterated,” and added, “That mountain literally collapsed on top of it.” The report said Trump argued the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assessments agreed it would be “extremely difficult to access,” while he insisted, “But we’re the only ones – and China, I believe, too – that have the capability.”