People gather in front of a portrait of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a memorial marking 40 days since a strike in the southern Iranian town of Minab killed at least 168 people, including around 110 children, on 7 April.
Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
- Iran’s supreme leader declared the United States suffered a shameful defeat and Iran now controls the Strait of Hormuz.
- The United States imposed a naval blockade on Iran, blocking oil sales worth over six billion dollars.
- Oil prices reached a four-year high while both nations suffer economically and negotiations remain stalled.
Iran’s supreme leader declared on Thursday that the United States had suffered a shameful defeat, defiantly rejecting a warning from President Donald Trump that an economically punishing US naval blockade could be enforced for months to come.
Oil prices hit a four-year high, then fell back slightly, before Mojtaba Khamenei issued a written statement that was read out on state television declaring that Iran was now in the driver’s seat in the crisis.
“Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait.
Khamenei was wounded in the initial US-Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and has not been seen in public since being named his successor as supreme leader on 9 March.
The United States imposed a blockade on Iran’s ports two weeks ago, while the Islamic republic has maintained its stranglehold over the strategic Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Middle East war in February.
“Any attempt to impose a maritime blockade or restrictions is contrary to international law… and is doomed to fail,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said, in a statement that warned the blockade that began on 13 April would be “a disruption to lasting stability in the Persian Gulf”.
‘Choking’
Trump is expected to receive a briefing on Thursday on new plans for potential military action in Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, two sources with knowledge of US planning told news platform Axios.
This week, Trump has reportedly told oil executives and national security officials to prepare for a long US blockade designed to force Tehran to surrender its nuclear programme, and, speaking to Axios, said: “They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them.”
US Central Command said on Wednesday in a social media post that it had reached a “significant milestone after successfully redirecting the 42nd commercial vessel attempting to violate the blockade”.
It said there are “41 tankers with 69 million barrels of oil that the Iranian regime can’t sell”, estimating the value at more than $6 billion.
Oil prices struck a four-year high on Thursday. International benchmark Brent crude soared more than 7% to $126 a barrel, but then eased in midday trading in London.
“The world is facing the biggest energy crisis in history,” International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said at a high-level meeting on the energy transition at IEA headquarters in Paris, adding that oil prices were “putting a lot of pressure in many countries”.
READ | Trump warns Iran ‘choking like a stuffed pig’, naval blockade can last months
Trump faces domestic political pressure to end the war, which is unpopular even with much of his base, has increased costs for American consumers and has unnerved US allies.
Iran’s economy is also suffering, and the rial has fallen to historic lows against the dollar.
Iran has sought to extract a price for being attacked by exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil typically transits.
Top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, twice turned back last week from trips to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran.
US officials contend they do not know who is speaking for Iran, whether it is the hardline and increasingly empowered Revolutionary Guards or diplomats, after Israeli strikes killed a series of top leaders.
Iran’s leaders have, however, sought to present a united front, sometimes even posting the same message simultaneously on social media.
‘Heartbreaking’
Tehran residents speaking to AFP journalists in Paris reported a sense of despair that the Islamic Republic government was clinging to power, and the negotiations had stalled.
Huge crowds of flag-waving government supporters gathered on Wednesday in the capital for street protests, while the ceasefire has allowed young residents to return to nightlife, despite the uncertainty.
One 28-year-old IT worker told AFP journalists in Paris via messaging app from the Iranian capital said:
It’s a heartbreaking situation. We had no control over either the previous war or the possibility of it starting again.
“Everything is so disappointing.”
Iran proposed easing its chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifts its blockade and broader negotiations take place. But the Trump administration has insisted that Iran’s nuclear programme be on the table.
Violence has continued on the war’s Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group that drew Lebanon into the war by firing rockets at Israel. Israel responded with strikes and a ground invasion.
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed nine people, among them two children and five women, the health ministry said Thursday, shortly after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denounced what he called “continuing Israeli violations” of the nearly two-week-old ceasefire.
