Khamenei says foreign forces will soon leave Arabian Sea
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei has said the era of foreign domination, dependence and humiliation that Iran’s enemies seek to restore is over and will never return.
In a message marking Sacred Defence Week and the second anniversary of the martyrdom of former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei contrasted Iran’s pre-1979 history of foreign influence with what he described as the country’s growing strength and independence.
He said foreign ambassadors once dictated policies to Iran’s monarch, while the 1979 Islamic Revolution overturned that order.
The eight-year Iran-Iraq war that followed was an attempt to reverse the revolution’s course, he said, but Iran emerged from the conflict stronger.
Khamenei also pointed to what he described as a shift in the military balance in the region, saying foreign forces that once dominated Iran’s southern waters now avoid venturing beyond the Arabian Sea after suffering blows from Iranian forces and defenders of the Strait of Hormuz.
He said it would not be long before the Arabian Sea was also cleared of their presence.
He said more than 30 million Iranians had declared their readiness to make sacrifices for the country, while more than 500,000 people registered within the first 100 minutes of a recent mobilisation drive.
Iranian women, he added, had taken the lead in some areas of courageous participation.
Khamenei said Iran’s current position was marked by “progress, dignity, independence” and prestige, adding that the country’s future would be more glorious than the present.
Paying tribute to Nasrallah, Khamenei described the late Hezbollah chief as a major figure in the history of the Levant who elevated Lebanon’s standing and strengthened the regional resistance movement.
He said Nasrallah’s “proud banner” was now in the hands of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, who was continuing his path.
Khamenei said Nasrallah’s legacy, along with that of other resistance figures, would continue to endure, while those who had chosen the opposing course would eventually be forgotten by history.