TEHRAN – Iran’s Supreme Leader declared on April 30 that the US had suffered a shameful defeat, defiantly rejecting a warning from President Donald Trump that an economically punishing US naval blockade could be enforced for months to come.

Oil prices hit a four-year high, then fell back slightly before Mr Mojtaba Khamenei issued a written statement read on state television declaring that Iran was now in the driver’s seat in the crisis.

“Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait.

He went on to predict a bright future for the Gulf without the US, saying those who interfere in the region from afar “have no place there except at the bottom of its waters”.

Mr Khamenei was wounded in the initial US-Israeli strikes that killed his father Ali Khamenei, and has not been seen in public since being named his successor as supreme leader in March.

The US imposed a blockade on Iran’s ports two weeks ago, while the Islamic republic has maintained its stranglehold over the strategic Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Middle East war at the end of February.

Washington is now seeking to assemble an international coalition of allied states and shipping firms to coordinate safe passage through Hormuz – while maintaining its blockade of ships serving Iran, a State Department official told AFP.

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Mr Trump threatened on April 30 to withdraw US troops from Italy and Spain, extending similar warnings already made against Germany, after lambasting the NATO allies for failing to support US-Israeli operations against Iran, including in the strait.

‘Act again’

Mr Trump is expected to receive a briefing on April 30 on new plans for potential military action against Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, two sources with knowledge of US planning told Axios.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned meanwhile that it was “possible that we may soon have to act again” against Iran to achieve the war’s objectives.

But commander Majid Mousavi of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards aerospace force said even a “short and tactical” enemy operation would be met “with painful, prolonged, and extensive strikes”.

In Tehran, air defences were activated on the night of April 30 to counter small aircraft and drones, the Iranian media reported, without providing further details.

Tehran residents speaking earlier to AFP journalists in Paris described a sense of despair that the Islamic republic government was clinging to power and that negotiations had stalled.

“From the Islamic republic still being in place to the innocent people whose lives were destroyed in this war, everything is so disappointing,” one 28-year-old IT worker told AFP via messaging app from the Iranian capital.

‘Intolerable’

Mr Trump has reportedly told oil executives and national security officials this week to prepare for a prolonged US blockade designed to force Tehran to surrender its nuclear programme.

US Central Command said on April 29 it had redirected a total of 44 commercial vessels to violate the blockade as part of its blockade of Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the blockade of his country’s ports was effectively an “extension of military operations” by Washington, despite the ongoing ceasefire.

“Continuation of this oppressive approach is intolerable,” he added.

Oil prices struck a four-year high on April 30. International benchmark Brent crude soared more than seven percent to US$126 a barrel before easing in afternoon trading in London.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the closure of Hormuz was “strangling the global economy”, and International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told a meeting at his Paris headquarters: “The world is facing the biggest energy crisis in history.”

Mr Trump faces domestic political pressure to end the war, which is unpopular even among much of his base and has driven up costs at the pump for US consumers.

Iran’s economy is also suffering, with the rial falling to historic lows against the dollar.

Iran has proposed easing its chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifts its blockade and broader negotiations take place. But the Trump administration has insisted that Iran’s nuclear programme be on the table.

US urges Israel-Lebanon talks

Violence has continued on the war’s Lebanese front, with the US Embassy in Lebanon on Thursday urging a meeting between Lebanese and Israeli leaders.

Israeli and Lebanese representatives have met twice in Washington in April – the first such meetings in decades – after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2.

Mr Trump has said he hopes to host Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “over the next couple of weeks”.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 15 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on April 30, while the Lebanese army said a separate strike on a home in the south killed a soldier and multiple members of his family. AFP

PARIS – The closure of the Strait of Hormuz as well as tensions in the Red Sea are reshaping trade routes, with Africa becoming a hub of global container ship traffic, according to logistics and maritime sources.

Over the past two months, the blockade has also pushed shipowners to find alternative land corridors to deliver foodstuffs and manufactured goods by truck, as they can no longer reach the Gulf’s coastal countries by sea.

What are the alternative routes for delivering to Gulf countries?