Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday rejected calls by Tehran moderates for direct negotiations with the United States, insisting that Washington’s hostility cannot be resolved through talks.
“We can impose restrictions against the United States, France, Britain and Germany in the Strait of Hormuz and not allow them to navigate,” Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of Ali Khamenei in the hardline Kayhan newspaper told state broadcaster.
“Just by announcing such a restriction, the oil price will surge to $200, and the biggest economic blow will be dealt to the enemy.”
This is not the first time Shariatmadari has raised the prospect of using Hormuz as leverage. Last year, after European sanctions on Iranian airlines, he urged the closure of the waterway to tankers and cargo ships from “hostile countries.”
At the time, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had not issued such a threat despite acknowledging it had the capacity to do so.
Other Iranian officials returned to the theme after US strikes on nuclear facilities earlier this year.
Closing the strait would be disastrous for Iran itself, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned in June.
“If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them,” he said, urging China to pressure Tehran against such a move.
Any Iranian closure of Hormuz would be “extremely dangerous,” European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in June, while UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy described it as “a monumental act of self-harm, making a diplomatic solution even harder.”
Global artery under strain
The Strait of Hormuz carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil exports. Iran has never attempted a full closure, but it has disrupted shipping through repeated seizures of commercial vessels.
“Europe and the United States would get miserable” if Tehran restricted oil flows, the Revolutionary Guards–linked Javan newspaper wrote in July, citing a shipping industry figure.
“Even countries with no link to the Iran-Israel war will suffer losses.”
The paper added that greater instability in the Middle East would drive up shipping and insurance costs globally.
Iran’s military loaded naval mines onto vessels in the Persian Gulf after Israeli strikes in June, though the mines were not deployed, according to Reuters.
US officials said the move indicated Tehran was weighing a serious escalation that could cripple global commerce.
Iran’s parliament approved a measure to close the strait in June following US airstrikes, state media reported, though the measure was not binding.
“Those who say, ‘Why don’t you negotiate directly with the United States and solve the issues,’ are superficial; because the reality is different," Khamenei said during a meeting with his supporters in Tehran.
"Given America’s true objective in its hostility toward Iran, these issues are unsolvable."
“The enemies, after facing the steadfast unity of the nation, officials, and armed forces, and after suffering heavy defeats in military attacks, have realized that Iran and the Islamic system cannot be subdued by war or forced into obedience," he said.
Khamenei added that enemies had underestimated Iran’s resilience and wrongly believed attacks would separate the people from the state.
The 86-year-old ruler's remarks came one week after Iran's Reform Front issued a controversial statement urging direct negotiations with Washington, suspension of uranium enrichment, and acceptance of full IAEA monitoring in exchange for sanctions relief.
Regime change
The Supreme Leader, who was absent for 22 days after the June war, accused the United States of preparing for the Islamic Republic's collapse following the June attack.
“On June 13 Iran was attacked; a day later, some American agents met in a European capital to discuss an alternative to the Islamic Republic — that’s how confident they were."
"One day after the attack began, they sat and discussed what government should rule Iran after the Islamic Republic. They even appointed a king, deciding who should be the Shah of Iran. This is how they imagined Iran.”
“They thought this attack would create distance between the people and the system, weaken the system, and allow them to impose their vile and malicious goals,” Khamenei said.
Israel and regional conflict
Khamenei argued that Washington’s enmity was openly acknowledged. “The reason for America’s hostility toward us was revealed by the man in office there today, who said: ‘Our confrontation with Iran, with the Iranian nation, is because Iran must be obedient to the United States.’”
“The Iranian nation is deeply offended by such a grave insult and will stand with full strength against those who hold such a false expectation,” he added.
Turning to Israel, Khamenei said: “Today our enemy, the one standing against us — the Zionist regime — is the most despised government in the world."
He said "the path of aiding the Zionist regime must be cut off, and what the brave people of Yemen are doing today is the right course.”
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s population, announced a maritime blockade in the Red Sea in November 2023 after a call by Khamenei to support Hamas in Gaza. Since then, they have fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones toward Israel as well as commercial vessels navigating the region.
“We are ready for whatever possible for the Islamic Republic,” he continued, pledging readiness to “uproot this deep, malignant cancer [Israel] from the region.”
