A shift in the strategic balance around the Strait of Hormuz has been declared by Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who said recent developments mark a turning point following the US failure in the region.
“Today, two months after the world’s biggest campaign and aggression in the region and America’s shameful failure in its own plan, a new chapter is emerging in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said in a statement carried by Islamic Republic News Agency.
The remarks were issued to mark National Persian Gulf Day, which commemorates the expulsion of Portuguese forces from the strait in 1622. The waterway was described as a site that has “aroused the greed of many devils in past centuries”, with reference to repeated foreign interventions.
Since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February, he said Iranians “have witnessed with their own eyes … the beautiful manifestations of the steadfastness, vigilance, and courageous struggle” of Iranian forces.
He added that “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 peoples.”
