— 🇮🇷 Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a message on the occasion of Holy Defense Week and the martyrdom anniversary of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
In the message, the following important points were mentioned:
– The days when Western powers controlled Iran and imposed their will upon the Iranian nation are long gone; the Islamic Revolution has awakened the people’s spirits, and I assure the people those dark days will never be repeated.
– Controlling the Strait of Hormuz is a joint desire of the entire Iranian nation, despite the differences between some segments in society.
– Throughout the past few wars, starting with the first imposed war [Saddam’s invasion], Iran has risen from the ashes of war like a burning Phoenix, and has become so powerful that it now casts its shadow on the enemy’s lands.
– Since the time of the Prophets, no greater figure than Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has appeared in the land of Al-Sham [the Levant], and with his stature, wisdom and courageous actions he turned Lebanon into a jewel of the Resistance and brought it to a position of greatness.
– Some people these days consider Iran to be the 4th world superpower, but that is according to worldly calculations; when God is entered into the equation, Iran is a divine power, second to none.
– In some important areas of bravery and presence in the fields, women have outpaced men.
– Today, the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz have been emptied of American military presence, and their navy does not dare to advance beyond the Arabian Sea; God Willing, they will sooner or later be expelled from the Arabian Sea as well.
- Serbia's President Vučić resigns.
Sergey Lavrov: "I am confident that life will teach our American partners to start thinking in terms of multilateralism. That they are not alone in this world, and that there are others who represent economic and military power."
"We are ready, and we will always be willing to talk, especially with countries like the United States. We will always listen, and we will always honestly speak about what we disagree with. And we disagree, in particular, with the fact that, under the guise of discussions about the Ukrainian issue and due to the inability to force Zelensky to accept certain compromises, President Trump, not Biden, is imposing sanctions on Russia.
Not only is the current administration automatically extending all the sanctions imposed by Biden – all of them, absolutely anti-Russian sanctions – but just a month after the meeting in Anchorage, new sanctions were announced against our private oil company, "Lukoil," and against the state-owned oil company, "Rosneft." They are simply being squeezed out of international markets.
Therefore, we see this as being in the national interest of the United States. A doctrine has been adopted in the United States that requires ensuring the dominance of the United States in global energy markets.
Look at what was said about Venezuela: Maduro was accused of being a drug trafficker, and therefore the regime in Venezuela needed to be changed. And now, it turns out that they have simply taken control of the oil industry, making it jointly owned by the United States and Venezuela.
Iran was accused of supporting terrorism for 47 years. And then, during the negotiations, there were periods when the Americans offered to jointly control the Strait of Hormuz with Iran. So, we understand that the national interests of the United States are, frankly speaking, quite self-serving.
And in our conversations, we try to explain to them that in the current world, even a country like the United States cannot solve all global problems on its own, especially by exploiting other countries for its own benefit.
It will not work. I am confident that life will teach our American partners to start thinking in terms of multilateralism. That they are not alone in this world, and that there are others who represent economic and military power. And in general, to be an independent player on the international stage."
🇺🇸/🇮🇷 Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi:
‘If I’m being very honest, there is no reason for us to engage in diplomacy with the United States at all.
In 2025, they offered us negotiations [on the nuclear program] and we accepted. Then, in the middle of negotiations, we were attacked.
About 8 months later, in February 2026, they offered negotiations a second time, and we once again accepted. As negotiations were ongoing, they attacked us again.
Then, after the war, we engaged in even more diplomacy. We signed an MoU, and they violated it within days. So, there is no real reason for us to go back to diplomacy.
But we are trying diplomacy one last time, because we don’t want to miss any chance for achieving peace.’
Ships are emailing Iran to apologize for using unauthorized routes through Hormuz
Shipping companies are now formally writing to the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to ask for forgiveness for passing through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran's permission—and blaming the charterers who forced them to do so.
The US claims the strait is open. In reality, shipowners are sending apology emails to Iran, pleading with the PGSA to lift restrictions on their vessels and promising to comply with Iranian regulations in the future.
The PGSA has warned that companies in violation will be added to the Non-Compliance List, which would restrict their vessels' future transit. At least 4 ships have been struck by Iranian missiles and drones in the Strait of Hormuz in the past few hours.
—: At least some of the missiles fired tonight into the Strait of Hormuz carried naval mines
Iran is once again laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, this time apparently in the illegal Omani route.
It is unclear how many of such mines were launched by Iran, and if their deployment was successful.