Iran says security in Strait of Hormuz will not return while US continues military pressure

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that security will not return to the Strait of Hormuz as long as the United States continues its blockade and military aggression. He made the remarks during his weekly press briefing, according to Mehr News. Baghaei emphasized that the strategic waterway's stability is directly linked to the cessation of US military pressure.

During the briefing, Baghaei also commemorated the Persian poet Hafez Shirazi, noting that Hafez holds a unique place among poets, especially for Iranians, and is considered an inseparable part of Iranian-Islamic culture and civilization.

In response to a recent speech by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Baghaei said the address should be viewed as part of America's cognitive warfare against Iran. He argued that presenting a distorted picture of historical events to justify Washington's warmongering is both dangerous and an affront to Greek culture and civilization. Baghaei stated that Rubio had inadvertently acknowledged important realities, including that Iran has endured for millennia. He added that the West as it exists today, in terms of meaning and thought, would not exist had Iranian and Muslim thinkers not served as translators and interpreters of Greek ideas during the dark ages of the Middle Ages. Iranian civilization, he said, has consistently established and sustained itself through acts of connection and creation.

Addressing Rubio's advisors with a sarcastic tone, Baghaei urged them to present a copy of the Divan of Hafez to the US Secretary of State so that he may become acquainted with the refinement of Iranian civilization and culture. He stressed that the United States cannot portray itself as the representative of Western and Greek civilization. The briefing also included a note that the item was being updated. According to Mehr News, Baghaei's comments reflect Iran's ongoing response to US policies in the region.