IRGC aerospace chief warns US ships could be targeted

Australia condemned Iranian government's acts of violence and intimidation, as well as an internet shutdown meant to "conceal the scale of its brutality," a foreign ministry spokesperson told Iran International on Thursday.

“The Australian Government has been consistent in its condemnation of the Iranian regime’s acts of violence and intimidation, including the use of telecommunications blackouts in an attempt to conceal the scale of its brutality,” the spokesperson said .

Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador and three other diplomats in August 2025 over Iran-directed attacks against the Australian community, and has sanctioned more than 220 Iran-linked people and entities.

It has also designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guards as a state sponsor of terrorism, and suspended operations of the Australian Embassy in Tehran.

New Zealand’s foreign ministry also told Iran International on Thursday that Iranians had the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression and access to information.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that the future of the region would be free of US presence.

“The presence of American forces in the Persian Gulf is the main source of insecurity,” he said, marking Iran’s National Persian Gulf Day.

He said Iran’s management of the Strait of Hormuz would ensure stability and benefit regional nations, adding that foreign powers had no place in the region “except at the bottom of its waters.”

He also vowed to protect the Islamic Republic's nuclear and missile capabilities, which the United States and Israel have tried to curtail through airstrikes.

“Ninety million proud and honorable Iranians inside and outside the country regard all of Iran’s identity-based, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial and technological capacities — from nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities — as national assets, and will protect them just as they protect the country’s waters, land and airspace,” read the message attributed to Khamenei.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that Iran must return to negotiations and stop delaying.

“Iran must come to the negotiating table and stop playing for time,” Merz said.

He said Germany was seeking to end the blockade “as soon as the conditions are met” and was in close contact with partners, especially in Washington.

A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader said on Thursday that the US naval blockade would not weaken Iran but would instead harm global powers.

Mohammad Mokhber said Iran controls a significant share of the world’s oil and gas resources.

“When we control 20% of the world’s oil and more than 18 trillion in gas, a naval blockade will not push Iran back to the Stone Age, but will certainly push the system of dominance into an ice age,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that US and Israeli strikes on Iran had negatively affected the Caspian Sea and its coastline.

Lavrov, speaking after talks with Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev, called the strike at Iran’s Anzali seaport on the Caspian Sea unacceptable.

“The Caspian region must remain a zone of peace and cooperation,” Lavrov said.