Iran supreme leader says US will be forced out of West Asia after ‘painful blows’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said the United States will be forced to leave West Asia after suffering what he called “painful blows”, Middle East Eye reports.

Mojtaba made the remarks on Monday in a written statement carried by Iranian state television, despite efforts to revive talks aimed at ending the fighting, the regional media outlet said.

The Iranian leader has not been seen in public since the war began in late February.

“Today, having suffered painful blows at the hands of valiant fighters and the guardians of the Strait of Hormuz, they [the enemies] do not venture beyond the Arabian Sea,” he said in the statement, without explicitly naming the US.

He said that whenever enemy forces had taken the risk of going beyond the Arabian Sea, they had only harmed themselves.

“It will not be long before the Arabian Sea, too, would rid itself of their presence,” the supreme leader added.