Latest news:
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss key regional security issues.
- US President Donald Trump says that no conversations are taking place or scheduled with Iran, while maintaining that the US naval blockade remains in full force and mines in the Strait of Hormuz have been cleared.
- Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami rejects war: “We must consider what serves the ultimate interests of the country, the system, and Islam.”
Iran Calls Trump ‘Delusional,’ Declares ‘Post-American Order’ — After He Claims Hormuz as ‘New U.S. Territory’
Iran’s military warns Gulf states against assisting US forces
Ali Abdollahi, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, has warned Gulf states against assisting the US military, saying nothing is “hidden from our eyes”.
Iranian officials fired back at President Donald Trump on Tuesday, calling him “delusional” and declaring a “post-American order” in the Persian Gulf after the president posted a map labeling the Strait of Hormuz “New U.S. Territory” and insisted the strategic waterway is “open and operating.”
Trump posted the map to Truth Social without comment Tuesday, following up on a claim he first floated last week and embraced again Monday when asked about the prospect of declaring the strait American territory.
“I mean we control it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We control it with the blockade, and I like the idea of declaring it a territory.”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi responded directly to Trump’s map, warning that Tehran would correct what he called the president’s “delusion.”
“Just as Trump correctly referred to the Persian Gulf by its proper name, his delusion about the Strait of Hormuz will soon either be dispelled, or we will set this deluded man straight,” Gharibabadi wrote on X.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets the commitments in the MoU, including lifting its naval blockade. “I want to state clearly that the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the American commitments stipulated in the memorandum of understanding… are implemented,” Ghalibaf said. He listed the lifting of the blockade and oil sanctions, as well as the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad.
Those demands include lifting the U.S. naval blockade, releasing frozen Iranian assets, removing sanctions on Iranian oil and ending U.S. military operations and threats.
Ghalibaf later turned his fire directly on the Trump administration’s efforts to force additional concessions from Tehran through mounting economic pressure, singling out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Americans think squeezing Iran harder will win concessions that were never part of the agreement,” Ghalibaf wrote on X. “Bessent and Hegseth are way out of their league.”
