Khamenei adviser says Arab states' stability depends on Iran's Hormuz role

Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, criticized a joint statement by the US secretary of state and GCC foreign ministers, saying Arab states along the Persian Gulf owed their stability to Iran's management of the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on X, Velayati said the West had brought the region nothing but "violence and plunder," while the stability of regional states was "owed to Iran's centuries-long stewardship of the Strait of Hormuz."

He also warned smaller Arab states against relying on what he described as "dictated statements."

"Do not place your hopes in statements written for you," he wrote, adding that "smaller states on the margins will have no seat at the table when the regional order is redrawn."

"Their strategic survival depends on Tehran's restraint," Velayati wrote.