Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a>, who is the son of late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,<\/a> is believed by the US to be severely injured and is reportedly passing on messages from a hospital bed, via top security officials. <\/p>\n \u201cBy divine will, the future of the Persian Gulf will be bright\u2014a future free of America, devoted to progress, peace, and prosperity for its nations,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n \u201cThose aliens who, from thousands of kilometers away, greedily sow mischief in that [the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman], have no place there except in the depths of its waters,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n The statement said that a new chapter for the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz has been taking shape since the Iran war with the United States and Israel broke out on February 28.<\/p>\n Tehran, it reads, would secure the Gulf region and eliminate what he described as “the enemy’s abuses of the waterway.”<\/p>\n The supreme leader, who has not been seen since the start of the war, added that new management of the Strait of Hormuz would bring calm, progress and economic benefits to all Gulf nations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis strategic asset has long provoked the greed of many evildoers over the centuries,\u201d the message added. <\/p>\n \u201cThe record of repeated invasions by European and American foreigners\u2014the insecurities, damages, and multiple threats they have imposed on the region\u2019s countries\u2014reflects only a fraction of the malicious schemes of global oppressors against the peoples of the Persian Gulf.\u201d<\/p>\n Negotiators from Washington and Tehran have been unable to come to an agreement on the future of the Strait of Hormuz, which is currently being blockaded by Iranian forces, with the US navy\u2019s own blockade stationed in the neighbouring Gulf of Oman. <\/p>\n Mediation efforts by Pakistan and Oman have failed to bring delegations back to the table, since the failure of talks earlier this month. <\/p>\n An Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the war, but postpone talks on the country\u2019s nuclear programme, was met with little enthusiasm in the US. Donald Trump has for months stated the dismantling of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme is a key goal for Washington. <\/p>\n Islamic Republic will protect its \u201cnuclear and missile capabilities\u201d as a national asset, even as Trump tries to get a deal on those issues, the statement said. <\/p>\n Exactly how much control Khamenei has over the talks is unclear. He is reported to be delegating significant responsibility to army generals in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. <\/p>\n Khamenei has not been seen or heard since he was appointed to the role in March. Four senior Iranian officials who are familiar with the ayatollah\u2019s health told The New York Times that the 56-year-old is gravely wounded, but that he is nonetheless mentally healthy.<\/p>\n Abdolreza Davari, a politician in Tehran who knows Mr Khamenei, told the outlet that the 56-year-old is currently \u201cmanaging the country as though he is the director of the board\u201d, adding that he \u201crelies heavily on the advice and guidance of the board members, and they collectively make all the decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[12474,39,12473],"class_list":{"0":"post-91265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-bestof","9":"tag-persian-gulf","10":"tag-topix"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116494400507723939","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mojtaba](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2265266081.jpg\")
Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to be seriously injured (ISNA)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777563379_824_2273021577.jpg\")
The Strait of Hormuz has not been freely open for traffic for two months (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2272383913.jpg\")
This handout photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on April 25, 2026 shows Pakistan’s Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi upon his arrival in Islamabad (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n