Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stressed on Tuesday that the order of the Middle East will change but not according to the US plans.
“The face and order of the Middle East will change, but not according to US plans. We, the Islamic countries of the region, will establish regional order and security in the economic and security dimensions,” Ghalibaf said, adding that US forces need to leave the region.
The Iranian speaker made the remarksIn a televised interview broadcast, where he stressed that US President Donald Trump “is unable to end the war he started against Iran,” stressing that passage through the Strait of Hormuz “will not return to what it was before.”
“We are not seeking war, but we will defend ourselves fiercely and respond firmly,” amid a US-Israeli aggression against the country which started on February 28.
Ghalibaf added that the US had expected victory within 72 hours, but instead has seen all its regional bases come under Iranian retaliatory operations, noting that “[US President Donald] Trump now resorts to telling several lies a day out of desperation.”
He stated that Iran had long warned its neighbors that the US military presence would not bring them security, something now evident to them.
He predicted that Islamic countries in the region would establish an indigenous system of economic and security stability through bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Recalling the earlier 12-day war, Ghalibaf said Iran accepted that ceasefire only after persistent requests and its final strikes on Israel, but added, “They have now shown that they learned no lessons.”
Strait of Hormuz
Addressing recent developments in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian speaker said its current closure was not Iran’s decision but a defensive necessity.
“We never intended to target neighboring states,” he said, “but when missiles are launched toward us, it is our right to respond. Many ships no longer move because the conditions do not permit it.”
He noted that legal and navigational arrangements in the strait would no longer return to past conditions since “its previous security no longer exists.”
Ghalibaf asserted that Israel had once vowed to reshape the order of West Asia through war. “Indeed, the region’s face and order are changing,” he said, “but not under America’s dominance.”
Instead, he described a new regional security model based on indigenous cooperation among neighboring Islamic nations.
Highlighting the geopolitical importance of the Strait of Hormuz, Ghalibaf called it “one of the world’s key points,” vital for the transfer of oil and energy.
He underlined that there was a “strategic miscalculation” in US involvement, saying Israel had set a trap for Washington, which “fell into it due to immaturity.”
Source: Agencies (translated and edited by Al-Manar)