Addressing an open session of the Parliament on Tuesday, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the United States’ current efforts to impose a naval blockade, shut down air corridors and exert maximum pressure on Iran’s commercial lifelines would be defeated through serious planning and management in the economic sphere and military responses.
He stressed that the Iranian nation with such a deep-rooted and distinguished record in its history should never be intimidated by blockade or threats.
“If the American enemy’s decision-making apparatus fails to understand this fundamental truth, it will remain trapped in the cycle of receiving heavy slaps from the Iranian nation,” Qalibaf said.
Qalibaf further decried the US president’s “reckless” remarks at the UN General Assembly and his offense against the Iranian people, saying they demonstrated that Washington has yet to change its conduct.
“In the face of such audacity, our response is the same clear statement as before: ‘Turn, and we will turn!’” he said.
Qalibaf warned US officials that the era of intimidating and threatening to destroy the Iranian nation had ended.
“The leaders of the White House must know that the proud and history-making Iranian nation will never retreat in the face of threats, rhetoric, or an air and commercial blockade,” he said.
Qalibaf stressed that the Islamic Republic’s response to any aggression or adventurism would be “tough, regret-inducing, precise and swift.”
The Parliament speaker also referred to the US president’s recent “rhetoric” concerning the Strait of Hormuz and the passage of ships through the strategic waterway, saying the remarks were a repetition of previous claims and that the baseless nature of such positions was known to everyone.
“Both the Americans and other countries should know that, as we have said before, in a region where we do not sell oil, no one will sell oil, and if our security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe,” Qalibaf warned.