Is this the real-life Mojtaba? Is this just cardboard fantasy, caught in a landslide of unreality?
The Nepo Babytollah has answered Donald Trump's warning to cut a deal soon, or else. At least a statement went out on IRGC-controlled airwaves read by a presenter under Mojtaba Khamenei's name. The message itself sounds like pure Ahmad Vahidi, however, proclaiming that no negotiations are possible over the IRGC's nuclear enrichment or its ballistic missile threat. Even the Associated Press recognizes the squeeze that Vahidi and his sockpuppet face, however:
Iran’s supreme leader said Thursday that the Islamic Republic will protect its “nuclear and missile capabilities” as a national asset, likely seeking to draw a hard line as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks a wider deal to cement the shaky ceasefire now holding in the war.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, speaking in a written statement read by a state television anchor as he has since taking over as Iran’s supreme leader, struck a defiant tone, insisting 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.
However, his remarks come as Iran’s oil industry has begun to be squeezed by a U.S. Navy blockade halting its oil tankers from getting out to sea. Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude for June delivery reached as much as $126 a barrel in trading on Thursday as Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.
Khamenei/Vahidi went on to promise a Persian Gulf "without America" in the near future:
“By God’s help and power, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America, one serving the progress, comfort and prosperity of its people,” Khamenei said. He reportedly was wounded in the Feb. 28 attack that killed his father, the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We and our neighbors across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the (Gulf) of Oman share a common destiny. Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometers away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it — except at the bottom of its waters.”
Assuming that Mojtaba's still engaging in respiration, it sounds as though no one's briefed him on the status of Iran's blue-water navy. They currently occupy the bottoms of waters, permanently. As for "foreigners," the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman are chiefly international waters open to all under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) treaty, to which this Iranian regime specifically is a signatory. Oman itself has rejected this framing of sovereignty, insisting that Iran adhere to UNCLOS.
Most likely, though, this message came from Vahidi, who has used Mojtaba as a sock puppet to refuse any meaningful negotiations. It rejects Donald Trump's repeated warnings, of course, but it also appears to rebuke Vladimir Putin's attempt to mediate on enrichment. Trump revealed that Putin had once again offered to take Iran's highly enriched uranium out of the country in order to facilitate a path to peace. Trump responded that he would prefer Putin end the war in Ukraine first. The Russians neither confirmed nor denied the offer, but the IAEA told reporters that Russia has been open to that all along:
US President Donald Trump has said Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to help him with Iran's "enrichment" during a phone call between the two leaders, presumably in reference to the proposed removal of the enriched uranium from the Islamic Republic. The US leader, however, claims he declined the help and responded that he'd rather his Russian counterpart end the war on Ukraine.
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also said that Moscow remains open to removing the uranium stockpile from Iran, a critical component of nuclear weapon development.
The new Mojtaba/Vahidi statement sounds very much like a pound sand to both Trump and Putin. Vahidi is trying to make this about national pride, when he should be more concerned about national collapse. The latter has the IRGC regime worried enough that their propaganda campaign has escalated sharply, including warnings about new superweapons that will defeat America entirely. There is no explanation for why the IRGC didn't deploy these supposed weapons while the US and Israel sank Iran's blue-water navy, destroyed its air defenses, eliminated a large part of their air force with the rest hidden away, and put their nation on the brink of an economic death spiral.
With that in mind, Trump has to decide whether to continue the blockade or to spice it up with a light dusting of shock-and-awe tactics to force the internal collapse in Tehran. Trump will meet with military leaders today to discuss next steps, Barak Ravid reports at Axios, but the options have been known for a while:
President Trump is slated to receive a briefing on new plans for potential military action in Iran on Thursday from CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, two sources with knowledge tell Axios.
Why it matters: The briefing signals that Trump is seriously considering resuming major combat operations either to try to break the logjam in negotiations or to deliver a final blow before ending the war. ...
- Two sources told Axios that Trump currently sees the blockade as his primary source of leverage, but he would consider military action if Iran still won't cave.
- U.S. military planners are also considering the possibility Iran will take military action against U.S. forces in the region in retaliation for the blockade.
Both of those conditions seem in evidence at the moment. Trump would clearly prefer to stick with the slow strangulation of the blockade, but the defiant messages coming from Vahidi under Mojtaba's supposed theological imprimatur make it difficult to believe that the IRGC will seriously negotiate at all. The short "shock and awe" wave that has floated out in the last couple of days probably relates to the understanding that the Pentagon has about two weeks' worth of IRGC infrastructure targets left on their game plan, interrupted by the ceasefire, and Israel may have other targets as well aimed more at leadership. If Vahidi won't move off this position, either Trump has to wait for the Iranian people to rise up and seize power, or accelerate that process by peeling back another layer or two of senior IRGC leadership.
Of note: Trump hasn't posted anything about this on Truth Social this morning, which is somewhat unusual. Perhaps the silence should worry Vahidi more than Trump's bluster.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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