Roving Periscope: Mojtaba reasserts; Round II of Iran war likely
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As US President Donald Trump tried to push Iran into a peace deal, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khameini on Thursday declared that the Islamic Republic will protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” as national assets, triggering speculations worldwide that the second round of the war may start soon, the media reported.
The only place Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters,” Mojtaba said, as the Strait of Hormuz remains in Tehran’s chokehold.
He said this in a written statement, read aloud on Iranian state television, as he has since been doing after he took over in the wake of the February 28 airstrike that killed his 86-year-old father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and dozens of top Iranian leaders from various branches of the theocratic government and its security apparatus.
Mojtaba said that a new chapter for the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz has been taking shape since the Iran war with the United States and Israel broke out on February 28.
“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,” Khamenei said.
“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.”
“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.”
Earlier, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said a US naval blockade on Iranian ports would deepen disruptions in the Gulf and would fail to achieve its targets. “Any attempt to impose a maritime blockade or restrictions is contrary to international law… and is doomed to fail,” he said in a statement.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday accused Trump of seeking to force Iran to surrender through economic pressure and internal divisions, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
“Trump explicitly divides the country into hardliners and moderates and then immediately talks about a naval blockade to force Iran to surrender through economic pressure and internal divisions,” Ghalibaf said in an audio message addressed to Iranians. The only solution to “counter the enemy” is national unity, he added.
Oil prices
Oil prices soared more than 5 per cent to a fresh four-year high on Thursday while stocks fell after Trump warned the US blockade could last months as peace talks remained stalled. He also warned Tehran on Wednesday that it should “get smart soon” and capitulate to Washington’s demands for tight controls on its nuclear programme, as a US naval blockade turned the screws on Iran’s economy, the media reported.
On Wednesday, Democrats confronted Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth for the first time since the Trump administration went to war with Iran on February 28, touching off tense exchanges over a costly conflict with unclear objectives that has been waged without congressional approval. The hearing before the House Armed Services Committee was focused on the administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defence spending to a historic USD 1.5 trillion.
Meanwhile, a top Pentagon official was quoted as saying that the war in West Asia has cost the USD 25 billion so far, excluding the damage to American bases in the volatile region.
President Trump told Axios he will not lift a naval blockade of Iran’s ports until he secures a deal with Tehran to address the country’s nuclear program, extending a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz that has caused a global energy crisis.
“The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing. They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them. They can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in a phone interview Wednesday, according to Axios.
He said he had rejected a recent proposal from Iran to reopen the strait but that would have delayed talks on the nuclear issue until later.
The blockade lies at the heart of the impasse between the US and Iran, with the Islamic Republic insisting it won’t restart negotiations or reopen the strait as long as the naval restrictions stay in place. Trump says he won’t halt the operation until Iran agrees on a peace deal to end a war that, while now in a fragile ceasefire, began more than two months ago, causing chaos across West Asia and elsewhere and energy prices to surge.
Round II
While Trump said he’d stick with the blockade, US military commanders have prepared a plan for a short and powerful second wave of strikes on Iran to raise pressure on the Shia regime, Axios said, citing people with knowledge of the preparations.
With the strait now effectively shut for two months and little sign of it opening soon, oil prices continue to rise. Brent crude futures climbed to around USD 119 a barrel on Wednesday.
It’s unclear how much storage and time Iran has been left with, before it would need to close down overflowing wells, which may damage them permanently. Analytics firm Kpler estimated Tehran has only another 12 to 22 days.
The US President has claimed that divisions within the Iranian regime have slowed decision-making. US and Israeli attacks have killed many of the country’s top leaders.
On Tuesday, Trump discussed prolonging the blockade in a meeting with oil and trading industry executives. The meeting, described by a White House official, included representatives of Chevron Corp. as well as trading houses Trafigura Group, Vitol Group and Mercuria Energy Group Ltd.
Participants discussed ways the Trump administration could keep up its blockade of Iranian ports, if needed, while minimizing impact on American consumers, the White House official said.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly said oil and gasoline prices will fall after the war ends. But climbing commodities prices weigh heavily on the administration ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republican Party retains control of US Congress.
A lengthier disruption of shipping through the strait — and the supply of oil in world markets — is expected to push prices even higher.
