• Source:JND
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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday said that a new chapter for the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is taking shape amid continued deadlock between Iran and the United States.

Khamenei said this in a message on National Persian Gulf Day. The message, which was broadcast on the state TV, said that the Gulf region will have a "bright future," without the presence of the United States.

Tehran would secure the Gulf region and eliminate "the enemy's abuse of the waterway," he added.

Mojtaba's 'bottom of the waters' warning 

The Iranian Supreme Leader said that the only place where Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is "the bottom of its waters."

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"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," said Khamenei in his statement.

'Iranians will protect nuclear assets like the border'

Khamenei's written message, read out on the state TV, stated that the country will protect nuclear and missile capabilities like its borders.

"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," the statement read.

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The US imposed a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on April 13 after the first round of negotiations failed a day earlier. The blockade has choked the narrow waterways further, which has seen disruption in maritime traffic since February 28.

Diplomatic channel has failed to yield any positive result towards ending the conflict permanently. The US is reportedly planning "short and powerful" wave of strikes on Iran to break the negotiating deadlock.

The plan chalked out by US CENTCOM, according to the report, will be presented to Trump on Thursday by commander Admiral Brad Cooper.


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