OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
10:51 AM – Thursday, April 30, 2026
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, purportedly issued defiant statements in several social media posts hailing a “new chapter for the Persian Gulf” and Strait of Hormuz, blaming the United States for its instability, and promising to “safeguard” Iran’s nuclear technology.
While analysts increasingly suspect the new Ayatollah’s recent statements were ghostwritten — citing his ongoing recovery from the February 28th U.S.-Israeli strikes — the silence, nonetheless, has finally been broken.
To mark National Persian Gulf Day, the son of the late Ali Khamenei allegedly emerged from weeks of obscurity to deliver his first public remarks since his father’s death.
“A new chapter for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is unfolding,” the Islamic religious leader stated. In a subsequent post, he added, “Today, it has been proven to not only the global public opinion but even to the rulers of countries that the US’s presence and establishment in the Persian Gulf is the main source of instability in the region.”
He persisted in his vitriol toward Washington, D.C., an antagonistic stance that sits in uneasy contrast to the delicate ceasefire brokered just weeks prior.
“The US’s flimsy bases lack the resilience and capability even to ensure their own security, let alone provide any hope for US’s dependents and the US-worshippers in the region,” he wrote.
In other posts, he also asserted that “the brilliant future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without the US,” though he does believe his country shares a “common destiny” with its Gulf neighbors.
The U.S., however, belongs at the bottom of the Persian Gulf’s waters, according to the new supreme leader.
“Those foreigners from thousands of kilometers away, who are greedily carrying out transgressions in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, have no place here except at the bottom of its waters,” he said.
“Iran’s new management of the Strait of Hormuz and the corresponding legal framework will secure comfort and progress for the benefit of all the nations of the region,” he continued, promising “an end to the hostile enemy’s exploitation of the Strait of Hormuz” in other posts.
Khamenei, in more posts, even went so far as to describe the U.S. and other Western nations as evil and demonic.
“Persian Gulf, this strategic asset, has provoked the greed of many devils over the centuries. It has experienced repeated aggressions carried out by European and American foreigners, along with the resulting insecurity and damages for the countries of the region,” he stated.
“The most recent example of the insecurity and damages caused by foreigners, was the recent saber-rattling of the Great Satan, the US.”
He concluded, “90 million noble Iranians regard all their spiritual, scientific, industrial & technological capacities from nano- & biotechnology to nuclear & missile technologies as national assets. They safeguard these assets just as they do their maritime, land & airspace borders.”
Khamenei, 56, has been elusive throughout Operation Epic Fury, with the Iranian regime claiming his leg was slightly injured in the strike that killed his father, mother, wife, and son.
Citing Israeli intelligence, U.S. officials suspect his condition is significantly more dire than reported, a theory bolstered by his prolonged public absence. Notably, his X account had remained dormant since April 18th prior to Thursday’s activity.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth said in March that the new supreme leader was “wounded and likely disfigured,” which would explain his lack of video or voice recordings.
Earlier this month, the UK outlet The Times, also cited a diplomatic memorandum based on American and Israeli intelligence, reporting that he was in “a severe condition,” rendering him “unable to be involved in any decision making by the regime.”
The Trump administration has been clear from the beginning of the conflict that it would not allow the Islamic Regime in Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
For months before striking Tehran, U.S. diplomats attempted to negotiate with Iran. Nonetheless, despite the regime’s claims that it was not developing nuclear weapons, its uranium has reportedly been enriched to about 60% purity — far closer to the 90% weapons-grade level than to the 20% maximum level needed for civilian uses.
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