A senior Iranian cleric said no one would dare attack Iran, while warning that any strike would fail and urging caution toward the United States.
“ No one will dare attack Iran anymore,” Ahmad Khatami, Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader, said.
“ They may attack, but it will not lead anywhere and this revolution will endure,” he added. Khatami also urged distrust of the United States during the ceasefire period.
“ We must even be pessimistic about the enemy’s smiles, especially our enemy named Trump, who is a symbol of lies,” he said.
He stressed the importance of public support and unity during the truce, saying people should remain present and trust in leadership.
“People will not accept negotiations with humiliation,” he added. iranintl.com/en/202604176974
Tehran says US blockade of ports must end as strait to open
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- Speaker of Iran’s parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said that recent claims by US President Donald Trump regarding Iran “were false”, and warned that the Strait of Hormuz “will not remain open” if the US blockade of Iranian ports continues.
- Trump told the AFP news agency that there were no “sticking points” left for a deal with Iran, while also issuing a series of upbeat messages on social media regarding apparent agreements with Tehran.
- But the US president also stated that the naval blockade would “remain in full force” until “our transaction with Iran is 100% complete”.
- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open” to all commercial vessels, “in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon” and “on the coordinated route as already announced”.
- Trump said Israel was “prohibited” from bombing Lebanon, as the first day of a 10-day ceasefire in the country saw tens of thousands of people return to homes they were forced to flee during weeks of Israeli attacks on the country.
- Visit our live tracker for the latest casualty figures from across the region.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump has claimed that things are “going very well” in talks with Iran, but senior officials in Tehran say the US blockade of Iranian ports must end if the Strait of Hormuz is to remain open.
- Despite claims by Trump, Tehran has denied agreeing to transport enriched uranium out of the country, saying that is a red line.
- US Central Command (CENTCOM) said 21 ships attempting to enter or leave Iranian ports have complied with directions from US forces to turn around and return to Iran since the maritime blockade began on April 13.
- Abas Aslani, a senior fellow at the Centre for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran, said there are “glaring contrasts in the narratives” coming from the US and Iran on talks to end the war.
- Ship-tracking site MarineTraffic said a cruise liner, reportedly without passengers, has successfully sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, the first passenger vessel to make it through since the war began.
- The Office of the US Chief of Naval Operations said reports of food shortages on board the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and USS Tripoli – both deployed in the Middle East – are “false”.
He who laughs last in Iran
Lars Hedegaard
Influential parts of the US Democratic Party, including several members of Congress and many in the mainstream media, are clearly hoping for an Iranian victory in the Israel-US war and the Iranian clergy. They delight in every little difficulty they claim President Trump lacks the sense to master. Some of them claim that the mullahs and their revolutionary guards have either already won the war or are on the way to it.
It may be, they say that the allies have won some military victories and thus weakened the governance in Tehran, but strategically seen, Trump has ended up in a dead end from which he has no idea how to get out of. He can probably bomb so much, but as long as the men of Allah can stay on their feet, they will consider it a victory, and they have the patience to wait for another chance to bring down the West as soon as Trump gets tired or stabbed by a democratic Congressional majority after November midterm elections.
One of the Democrats and media’s accusations against Trump is that he has no strategic plan or vision of how his military adventure will end.
However, there are also insightful observers who advocate a quite different view, namely that Trump knows very well what he wants to accomplish. And they point out that he has a strategic plan far more comprehensive than just crushing the clergy, namely to provide China’s opportunities to realize its imperialist ambitions – first and foremost to invade Taiwan. Xi Jingpin has ordered the Chinese military to prepare for war in 2027, but after the conflict in the Middle East, it is doubtful whether he has the strength to challenge the US and its allies.
The fact is that China relies on oil imports from Iran and by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Trump has shut down Iranian oil. Thus the blockade serves several purposes.
So far, US navy vessels have effectively prevented ships coming from Iranian ports from sailing through the Strait while everyone else is free to pass. The blockade must be seen as a part of the US economic warfare. As long as it stands, Tehran gets no revenue from the country’s main export commodity, and before long, the mullah board will be cut off from being able to pay salaries to its police and other bully corps.
This means that the Iranian people, who overwhelmingly hate the government, have better opportunities to overthrow it. The blockade also means that there will be a shortage of storage for the oil, which Iran cannot get rid of. According to some observers, storage capacity will soon run out and that will force Tehran to shut down oil extraction.
No matter how brutal the Islamic Republic is, it will have to bow down to economic realities. You cannot keep an economy going by hanging people in cranes or shooting them down in the streets. The Iranian currency has already lost all value, banks are closed and inflation is the highest in the world.
As far as China is concerned, the communist government must acknowledge that it has suffered a geostrategic defeat. Not only has it lost two of its strategic allies in the form of Venezuela and Iran. Now the economy will also be affected.
Day 31 March, Reuters could report that China is buying more than 80 pct. of Iran exported oil, which amounts to approx. 13.4 pct. of the country’s ship-borne oil imports. The Chinese communists have been able to buy this oil at a significant discount compared to the world market price – just as was the case with the oil from Venezuela. It’s now over, because the United States has started on oil trade – at the same time, because of Trump’s “drill baby drill” policy and clash with the climate mafia, the country has become the world’s largest producer of oil and a leading oil exporter.
As if Beijing wasn’t bad enough, the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, could announce two days ago, that the United States has signed a defense agreement with Indonesia, which, among other things, means the United States has unimpededed access to fly over Indonesian territory. This is important because Indonesia controls the Strait of Malacca – another bottleneck for global maritime trade and a crucial trade path for China.
China’s ambitious plans to conquer world domination are crumbling. So do the Trump haters’ wet dreams of his big policies suffering shipwreck.