In written statement attributed to him, Khamenei defends nuclear capabilities, says only US place in Gulf is ‘at the bottom of its waters’

Iran’s supreme leader purportedly says that the Islamic Republic will protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” as a national asset, even as US President Donald Trump tries to get a deal on those issues.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei ostensibly issues a written statement read aloud on Iranian state television, as he has done several times since he took over after the Feb. 28 airstrike that killed his 86-year-old father, Ali Khamenei. Multiple media reports have suggested he was seriously wounded in the strike, and he has not been seen or heard in public since assuming the role.

“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 says.

The supreme leader also says that the only place Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters,” as the Strait of Hormuz remains in Tehran’s chokehold.

“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 says in the statement.

“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.”

He proclaims that Tehran will secure the Gulf region and eliminate what he describes as “the enemy’s abuses of the waterway.”

The supreme leader adds that new management of the Strait of Hormuz will bring calm, progress and economic benefits to all Gulf nations.