Iran’s supreme leader vows to protect nuclear and missile capabilities
[May 01, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL and AAMER MADHANI
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader defiantly vowed
Thursday to protect the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and missile
capabilities, which U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to curtail
through airstrikes and as part of a wider deal to cement the war’s shaky
ceasefire.
In a statement read by a state television anchor, Ayatollah Mojtaba
Khamenei said the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf is
“at the bottom of its waters" and that a “new chapter” was being written
in the region's history. Khamenei has not been seen in public since
taking over as supreme leader following the killing of his father in the
war’s opening airstrikes.
His remarks come as Iran's economy is reeling and its oil industry is
being squeezed by a U.S. Navy blockade halting its tankers from getting
out to sea. The world economy is also under pressure as Iran maintains
its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all
crude oil is transported. On Thursday, the global benchmark for oil,
Brent crude, traded as high as $126 a barrel.
That shock to oil supplies and prices is putting pressure on Trump, who
is floating a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by the
U.S.'s Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.
Under the plan, the U.S. would continue its blockade on Iranian ports,
while coordinating with allies to impose higher costs on Iran’s attempts
to subvert the free flow of energy, according to a senior administration
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to comment publicly.
In a cable sent Tuesday, the U.S. State Department instructed American
diplomats around the world — except those in Belarus, China, Cuba and
Russia — to seek their host government’s support for the Trump
administration's call for assistance in establishing a “maritime freedom
construct” that would ensure free and unimpeded access to shipping
through the strait.
“This commitment reflects broad international consensus on the need for
coordinated action to counter Iranian maritime provocations and ensure
navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz,” said the
cable, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
The initiative, being led by the State Department and the Pentagon’s
Central Command, “is a fundamentally defensive response to protect the
rights of all countries to navigate international waters freely and
safely and to hold Iran accountable for its aggressive and illegal
actions to impede the free flow of commerce,” the cable said.
At the same time, Trump has also floated possible changes to U.S. troop
presence in allied countries in Europe. The day after the president
announced his administration was conducting a review on potentially
reducing the U.S. troop presence in Germany, he was asked by a reporter
whether he’d weigh pulling U.S. forces out of Italy and Spain — which
have sparred with the United States over use of bases for Iran-related
operations.
“Why shouldn’t I,” Trump answered. “Italy has not been of any help to
us, and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible.”
Ceasefire shaken as strait remains shut
The U.S. blockade — which as of Thursday has turned back some 44
commercial vessels, according to U.S. Central Command — is designed to
prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while
also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off
production because it has nowhere to store oil.
A recent Iranian proposal would push negotiations on the country’s
nuclear program to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he
went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran has long maintained its program is peaceful, though it enriched
uranium at near-weapons-grade levels of 60%.
Pakistan on Thursday said it was still facilitating indirect talks
between the U.S. and Iran aimed at easing tensions, but that Islamabad
would also welcome direct communication between the two sides, even by
phone.
“If the two parties can engage in real-time conversations, that could
ease the sticking points,” said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson
Tahir Andrabi at a weekly news briefing. He declined to share details of
any Iranian or U.S. proposals.
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Girls sing a song as they show the movement of missiles with their
hands next to the portraits of the late Iranian revolutionary
founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, center, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in
a state-organised rally celebrating the birthday of Imam Reza, the
8th Shiite Muslims' Imam, and supporting the supreme leader, in
Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Khamenei's remarks
signaled that nuclear issues and Iran's ballistic missile program
wouldn't be traded away.
“Ninety million proud and honorable Iranians inside and outside the
country regard all of Iran’s identity-based, spiritual, human,
scientific, industrial and technological capacities — from
nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities
— as national,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei referred to America as the “Great Satan,” a long hurled
insult by Iranian leaders toward the U.S. since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
Khamenei signals strait will remain shut
In his remarks, Khamenei seemed to signal Iran would maintain its
control over the waterway, which sits in the territorial waters of
Iran and Oman. Iran had been charging some ships reportedly $2
million apiece to travel through the strait.
He said that Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz will make the
Gulf more secure, and that Tehran's “legal rules and new management”
of the strait will benefit all the region’s nations.
However, the world considered the strait an international waterway,
open to all without paying tolls. Gulf Arab nations, chief among
them the United Arab Emirates, have decried Iran's control of the
strait as akin to piracy.
Crackdown intensifies in Iran
Iran announced Thursday it hanged a 21-year-old man over charges
stemming from the nationwide protests in January, the judiciary’s
Mizan news agency reported.
The agency identified the executed man as Sasan Azadvar, from
Isfahan. It said he was hanged for the crime of “effectively
cooperating with the enemy by attacking police officers” during the
protests.
Activists and rights groups say a crackdown on dissent, including a
wave of executions, has further intensified since the U.S.-Israel
war with Iran.
U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday at least 21
people have been executed since the start of the war.
Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are
unable to challenge the accusations they face, rights groups say,
warning that several other people remain at risk of execution.
Fighting continues in southern Lebanon
Despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon-based, Iran-backed
Hezbollah militants, the group has continued to claim attacks on
Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. Israel's military said one of
its soldiers was killed in battle there Thursday, raising the troop
casualties to 17 since the Iran war started.
Air raid sirens sounded multiple times in border communities in
northern Israel on Thursday, too. The Israeli military said it
struck military structures used by Hezbollah, and the Lebanese
Health Ministry said 9 were killed in strikes, including women and
children.
Late on Thursday, the foreign ministry of United Arab Emirates —
which has come under attack by Iran during war — announced a travel
ban for its citizens covering Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, and urged
those already in those countries to return home.
___
Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew
Lee in Washington, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Amir Vahdat in Tehran,
Iran, Sarah El Deeb and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, and Giovanna
Dell'Orto in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
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