Supreme leader says Iran will protect its nuclear and missile capabilities

A woman holds up a picture Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during a state-organised rally in Tehran (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Iran’ssupreme leader has said the Islamic Republic will protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” as a national asset.

The statement was made as US 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 presenter 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 US Navy blockade halting its oil tankers from getting out to sea.

(PA Graphics)

Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude for June delivery reached as much as 126 dollars 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 traded crude oil and natural gas 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,” Mr Khamenei said in the statement.

It was read out like all others since he reportedly was wounded in the February 28 attack that killed his father, the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“We and our neighbours across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the (Gulf) of Oman share a common destiny. Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometres away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it – except at the bottom of its waters,” he said.

With a fragile ceasefire in place, the US and Iran are locked in a stand-off over the strait.

US President Donald Trump is seeking a wider deal to cement the shaky ceasefire now holding in the war (Matt Rourke/AP)

The US 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 Mr Trump, as oil and fuel 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 programme to a later date.

Mr Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has long maintained its programme is peaceful, though it enriched uranium at near-weapons-grade levels of 60%.

Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Mr Khamenei’s remarks signalled that nuclear issues and Iran’s ballistic missile programme would not be traded away.

“Ninety million proud and honourable 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,” Mr Khamenei said.