Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei breaks silence to vow no US military bases in the region
In his longest statement while still not appearing in public, Iran's new ayatollah said US military bases would have no place in the region, as CENTCOM acknowledged overnight strikes on missile sites and Iranian boats laying mines, and a tanker was struck near Oman.
Published on 26/05/2026 - 17:30 GMT+2
Iran's Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared in his first major public statement since taking office that regional countries would no longer serve as staging grounds for US military bases, after US Central Command acknowledged carrying out strikes on missile sites and boats in southern Iran overnight.
In a 14-page written message marking the Eid al-Adha holiday and the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Khamenei said the US "in addition to no longer having any safe haven in the region for aggression and the establishment of military bases, is moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day."
"The hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases," he added.
Khamenei, 56, has not appeared in public since succeeding his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February in the opening salvo of the war.
The message carried by state-run television on Tuesday is the most extensive public message attributed to him since he took office.
International outlets have previously reported that Mojtaba Khamenei was severely injured and needed extensive surgery, citing Iranian officials. Tehran has not yet commented on those reports.
'Flagrant violation' of ceasefire
US CENTCOM said it had targeted missile sites and boats attempting to lay mines in southern Iran, describing the operations as conducted in "self-defence" and insisting they were not intended to breach the ceasefire framework.
Iran's foreign ministry rejected that characterisation, accusing the US of "flagrant violation of the ceasefire in the Hormozgan region" in the past 48 hours.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered and will not hesitate for a moment in defending the integrity of Iran," the ministry said.
Iranian state-run media reported explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas, without providing further details. Domestic outlets separately reported four IRGC members were killed in the incident, although Tehran has not officially confirmed the US strikes.
The IRGC separately said it had downed a US drone and fired at other aircraft attempting to enter Iranian airspace, without specifying when the incidents occurred.
At sea, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre reported an external explosion striking a tanker approximately 60 nautical miles east of Oman's capital Muscat, near the waterline at the port-side stern.
The crew was reported safe but fuel was observed leaking into the sea.
The military escalation came as Iranian negotiators were in Doha for talks with Qatari counterparts on a possible peace framework.
IRGC-affiliated media said parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had returned to Tehran after the talks.
Khamenei's message also praised what he called the "Resistance Front" across the region and described Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel as a "storm of Aqsa" — saying "it was the weapon of 'Allahu Akbar' that brought (Israel's) breath to its final count."
Nasser Arasteh, deputy head of the ayatollah's military advisory body, echoed the statement's tone, saying, "In the future, the United States will have no place in the Persian Gulf, and this will be realised either with war or without war."
Iran's foreign ministry has acknowledged that Tehran and Washington have reached understandings on many issues, but said a final agreement was not imminent.
