Iran Supreme Leader says deterrence found in 'even more powerful' Tehran
The path to absolute deterrence lies in an "even more powerful Iran," Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Wednesday, in a message marking the "National Day of Fighting Global Arrogance."
Khamenei warned that Iran's response to any renewed US aggression would be on a much greater scale, adding that Tehran's destruction of US bases in the region and its management of the Strait of Hormuz had been part of a campaign against US hegemony.
“The US sees the end of its hegemony as distant; we see it as near,” he said.
Washington's hostility towards Tehran will not change through partisan shifts or any concessions to the US, and those who believe otherwise are “greatly mistaken”, Khamenei also said, in response to the Republican Party's defeats in the US midterm elections.
Mediators push for progress in US-Iran negotiations
In recent days, efforts were made to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations between Tehran and Washington and to secure significant progress that could avert an American military strike. The efforts involved several mediators, including Qatar, Russia, and China.
Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei, who recently received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance, wrote on Tuesday on X/Twitter that “the United States’ response regarding Iran’s rights and demands was not convincing.”
Rezaei stressed that Washington must provide a full and explicit response to Iran’s seven conditions. Only then, he said, would “the Strait of Hormuz be opened.”
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article ends on Rezaei saying the Strait of Hormuz will be opened only once Washington meets Iran's conditions. It never says that the United States is enforcing a naval blockade on Iran, or that Iran ties reopening the strait to Washington ending that blockade. Without this, a reader believes Iran alone is holding the strait shut as leverage, with no US measure for it to answer.
How we know
- Anadolu Agency (English) reported“Qatar continues to mediate between Washington and Tehran amid tensions over the US naval blockade and security in the Strait of Hormuz”Iran’s parliament speaker says US voters rejected war, Tehran backs this message (opens in a new tab)
- Anadolu Agency (English) reported“reopening the strait depends on Washington ending the blockade”Iran’s parliament speaker says US voters rejected war, Tehran backs this message (opens in a new tab)
Amichai Stein and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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