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Iran: Will Protect Nuke, Missile Means 04/30 06:09
Iran's supreme leader said Thursday that the Islamic Republic will protect
its "nuclear and missile capabilities" as a national asset, likely seeking to
draw a hard line as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks a wider deal to cement
the shaky ceasefire now holding in the war.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran's supreme leader said Thursday that
the Islamic Republic will protect its "nuclear and missile capabilities" as a
national asset, likely seeking to draw a hard line as U.S. President Donald
Trump seeks a wider deal to cement the shaky ceasefire now holding in the war.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, speaking in a written statement read by a state
television anchor as he has since taking over as Iran's supreme leader, struck
a defiant tone, insisting the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf
is "at the bottom of its waters."
However, his remarks come as Iran's oil industry has begun to be squeezed by
a U.S. Navy blockade halting its oil tankers from getting out to sea.
Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude for June delivery reached as much as $126 a
barrel in trading on Thursday as Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of
Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude
oil and natural gas traded passes.
"By God's help and power, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will
be a future without America, one serving the progress, comfort and prosperity
of its people," Khamenei said in the statement, read like all others since he
reportedly was wounded in the Feb. 28 attack that killed his father, the
86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"We and our neighbors across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the (Gulf)
of Oman share a common destiny. Foreigners who come from thousands of
kilometers away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it --
except at the bottom of its waters."
With a fragile ceasefire in place, the U.S. and Iran are locked in a
standoff over the strait. The U.S blockade is designed to prevent Iran from
selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially
creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has
nowhere to store oil.
The strait's closure, meanwhile, has put pressure on Trump, as oil and
gasoline prices have skyrocketed ahead of crucial midterm elections, and it has
pressured his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas.
A recent Iranian proposal would push negotiations on the country's nuclear
program to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was
to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons. Iran long has maintained
its program is peaceful, though it enriched uranium at near-weapons-grade
levels of 60%.
Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Khamenei's remarks signaled that
nuclear issues and Iran's ballistic missile program wouldn't be traded away.
"Ninety million proud and honorable Iranians inside and outside the country
regard all of Iran's identity-based, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial
and technological capacities -- from nanotechnology and biotechnology to
nuclear and missile capabilities -- as national assets, and will protect them
just as they protect the country's waters, land and airspace," Khamenei said.
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