Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has warned that countries across the Middle East will no longer “serve as shields” for US military bases, striking a defiant tone in a written Eid al-Adha message aired by state television.
“What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” said M Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he took office in March, in a message marking the Eid al-Adha holiday.
He said the United States was, in his words, not only losing any “safe haven” for military bases and aggression in the region, but also “moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day”.
The statement comes as Iran and the United States continued exchanges aimed at reaching a deal to end the war which began on 28 February and spread across the region.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 8 April.
A man passes a billboard on the facade of a building depicting the Strait of Hormuz with a caption in Persian reading ‘Forever in Iran’s Hand’
Iran’s foreign ministry has said Tehran and Washington reached understandings on many issues in exchanges over a deal for ending the war, but cautioned that a full agreement was still not close.
Adding to the volatility, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said this morning they had downed a US drone and fired on other aircraft attempting to enter Iranian airspace, though they did not say when the incidents occurred.
In a statement, the Guards also warned “against any violation of the ceasefire by the aggressor US military and considers its right to reciprocal response legitimate and certain”.
On Wednesday, the US Central Command said American forces struck missile sites in southern Iran and targeted boats it said were attempting to lay mines, even as the ceasefire held.
Iran has not officially confirmed the US attack, but state media reported blasts in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas without specifying their source.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, succeeded his father Ali Khamenei who was killed in the opening US-Israel strikes of 28 February, triggering retaliatory attacks by Tehran across the region.
Deal to end war could ‘take days’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that negotiating a deal with Iran could “take a few days,” dashing hopes that the conflict could be wrapped up immediately.
Discussing US strikes on targets that included boats said to be trying to lay mines and missile launch sites, Mr Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz must remain open “one way or the other”.
“The straits have to be open, they’re going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open,” Mr Rubio told reporters during his visit to India.
Watch: Rubio says Strait of Hormuz has to be open ‘one way or the other’
The US attacks came as Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential deal with the US to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said.
Speaking earlier in New Delhi, Mr Rubio said Washington would exhaust diplomatic options before deciding whether to handle Iran in “another way”.
He described what he called a “pretty solid thing on the table,” pointing to discussions on reopening the strait and a “very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter”.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were going “nicely” but warned of renewed attacks if the talks collapsed. It “will only be a Great Deal for all, or no Deal at all,” he wrote.
Separately, signs of wider regional strain emerged as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would step up strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Israel’s military soon thereafter said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley and other areas.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire in mid-April, but Israel has continued airstrikes it says are acts of self-defence against Hezbollah, which was not party to the truce.
The official briefed on the Iranians’ Doha visit said the discussions focused on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, while Iran’s central bank chief attended to discuss the potential release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal.
Donald Trump had warned of fresh attacks on Iran if talks failed
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that nuclear issues would only be negotiated after the framework accord was agreed.
Mr Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that.
Mr Baghaei said the potential Iran deal contained no specific details on management of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually flows.
Iran would not charge tolls for ships to pass through but there would be a cost for services offered such as navigation and steps to protect the environment, he said, under a protocol to be agreed with Oman, which lies on the opposite shore of the waterway.
Latest Middle East stories
Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, citing a Middle East diplomatic source, reported the US and Iran were discussing a plan to reopen the strait about 30 days after a deal to end hostilities is reached.
Since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has thinned sharply: only a few dozen vessels have been passing daily, down from 125 to 140 previously.
The standoff has pushed oil prices higher and increased the cost of fuel, fertiliser and food.
In early Asian trade, US West Texas Intermediate crude was up slightly from yesterday’s last traded price but down 5.5% from Friday’s close.
