US-Iran tensions LIVE update: Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump will not succeed in undermining or destroying the Islamic Republic, as talks between Iran and the United States take place in Geneva, AFP reports.
Here is what Khamenei said
“In one of his recent speeches, the US president said that America has not succeeded in destroying the Islamic Republic in 47 years… I tell you: you will not succeed either,” Khamenei said in the speech, AFP reported.
“We keep hearing that they sent a warship towards Iran. A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but a weapon capable of sinking it is even more dangerous,” he said.
Khamenei expressed skepticism about the outcome of negotiations with the US. “If there are to be negotiations – because there is no real room for negotiations – to predetermine the outcome of negotiations is a mistake and madness,” he said, referring to US calls for Iran to give up its nuclear program, AFP reported.
Iran said Tuesday it would temporarily close the Strait of Hormuz to conduct live-fire military exercises, signaling a rare show of force as its representatives engaged in another round of indirect talks with the United States in Geneva over its disputed nuclear program, the Associated Press reported.
Araghchi says: “I’m in Geneva with real ideas”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading negotiations for Iran, met with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog in Geneva on Monday.
“I’m in Geneva with real ideas to get a fair and just deal,” Araghchi wrote on X. “What’s not on the table: submission to threats.”
It is the first time Tehran has announced the closure of the vital waterway, which carries about 20% of the world’s oil supply, since Washington began threatening and deploying more military forces to the region. The move represents another escalation in a weeks-long confrontation that risks igniting a wider conflict in the Middle East, the report said.
As the talks began, Iranian state media reported that live missiles had been fired toward the Strait of Hormuz and that the waterway would be closed for several hours due to “security and maritime concerns.”
The semi-official Tasnim News Agency, which is closely linked to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, said missiles fired from Iran and along its coast had successfully hit their intended targets in the Straits.
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