Iran's Supreme Leader Saber-Rattles As Iran's Navy Is Feeding Fishes

RedState 

It's a day ending in "Y," so Iran must once more have its mouth writing checks its butt can't cash. The mouthpiece in this particular instance is ostensibly the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the old Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who last month was disassembled by American explosives. The new Khamenei's threat was issued, not in person, not even by voice, but over an online Telegram account.

A gravely injured Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a chilling message on Saturday amidst an uneasy truce with Israel, threatening that “Iran’s navy is ready to inflict new bitter defeats on enemies.”

The Iranian Armed Forces Day message comes from the newly minted Ayatollah who has not been seen since he took control of the regime after being maimed and losing a leg in the Feb. 28 US-Israeli airstrike that killed his father, Ali Khamenei.

Now, despite Iran negotiating a truce with Israel, the absentee Ayatollah is threatening to flex Iran’s heavily depleted military.

“Just as Iran’s drones strike like lightning against the US and Zionist criminals, Israel, the brave navy is also prepared to inflict new bitter defeat on enemies,” a post from Khamanei’s Telegram account read.

Telegram is an instant-messaging and social media application, amenable to encryption. Khamenei the Younger is using it to issue his threats.

That is, if it's actually him. The new Supreme Leader hasn't been seen since the opening day of Operation "Tear Iran a New One," when he was reportedly seriously injured in the raid that reduced his father to ambient temperature. As far as I can tell, his voice hasn't been heard. So, how do we know these messages are really from him? 

Well, we don't.

As for Iran's brave navy, well, if being food for crabs on the bottom of the ocean constitutes bravery, then Iran's navy is brave indeed. Even the recent pride of the Iranian Navy, the drone carrier Martyr Hassan Bagheri, is now trying to pull off a very bad impression of a submarine. 

The Supreme Leader, to paraphrase a great American movie hero, ain't leading anything but Jack and Schiff - and Jack left town. He's not really in charge. In fact, nobody outside Iran is even sure if he's alive, or what he's doing. He's said not to be in charge of Iran. 

“Mojtaba Khamenei is being treated in [the Iranian city of] Qom in a severe condition, unable to be involved in any decision-making by the regime,” read a diplomatic memo, which The Times said is based on US-Israeli intelligence and shared with their Gulf allies.

So, why would he be issuing threats on social media - in writing? There's one obvious reason: Like his late, unlamented father, Mojtaba Khamenei has finally had his birth certificate permanently revoked. And, as reports would have it, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is in charge.

Those are bad people. They're also the people we've been hunting down. They are a problem, and as we all know, there is no problem that cannot be resolved with a suitable application of high explosives.

The more Iran issues these threats, the sillier they look. Every airplane in their air force has been disassembled and scattered over a wide area by American and Israeli high explosives. Most of their army is gone. Their navy is in Davy Jones' locker. Their military senior staff and headquarters complexes and their top generals have been hunted down and, one by one, un-alived.

It would be hilarious at this point, when Iran issues yet another spittle-flecked threat, to see President Trump simply say, "Oh, yeah? You and what army?"

Iran closes Strait of Hormuz again over US blockade of its ports

 Reports of Iranian gunboats opening fire on a tanker in strait, after Tehran said it is closing the waterway until the US lifts the blockade of its ports.

An oil tanker sails through the Strait of Hormuz on April 17, 2026, just before Iran announced the strait would close again [Mohammed Aty/Reuters]

18 Apr 2026

Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again, calling the decision a response to a continued blockade of its ports by the United States.

The Iranian military on Saturday said control of the strategic waterway, through which 20 percent of globally traded oil transits, has “returned to its previous state”, with reports saying Iranian gunboats fired at a merchant vessel as it attempted to ‌cross.

The closure of the strait came hours after it was reopened, with more than a dozen commercial ships passing through the waterway, after a US-mediated 10-day ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Lebanon.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday said in a statement, cited by Iranian state media, that the ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports represented “acts of piracy and maritime theft”, adding that the control over Hormuz is “under the strict management and control of the armed forces”.

“Until the US restores full freedom of navigation for vessels travelling from Iran to their destinations and back, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain tightly controlled and in its previous condition,” it said.

By 10:30 GMT on Saturday, at least eight oil and gas tankers had crossed the strait, but at least as many ships appeared to have turned back, having begun to exit the Gulf, the AFP news agency reported.

Later on Saturday, India summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest against a “shooting incident” involving two Indian-flagged merchant vessels in the strait, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.

The ministry said in a statement that Secretary Vikram Misri summoned the Iranian ambassador and “conveyed India’s deep concern” over the incident.

New Delhi also urged Iran to “resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the Strait”, the statement said, adding that the envoy “undertook to convey these views to the Iranian authorities”.

India was among the nations Iran had labelled “friendly” and allowed several Indian-flagged vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Some ships with flags from Malaysia, China, Egypt, and South Korea have also been allowed to pass through the strait.

The toing and froing over the strait cast doubt on US President Donald Trump’s optimism the day before, that a deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran was “very close”.

Trump had celebrated the reopening of the strait on Friday, but warned the US attacks would resume until Iran agreed to a deal, which included its nuclear programme.

“Maybe I won’t extend it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One about the temporary ceasefire agreement in place. “So you’ll have a blockade, and unfortunately we’ll have to start dropping bombs again.”

Asked whether a potential deal could be made in this short timeframe, Trump said: “I think it’s going to happen.”

But Iran says no date has been agreed for another round of peace talks, accusing the US of “betraying” diplomacy in all negotiations.

The conflicting and changing reports about the strait and how much freedom ships have to transit through it have deterred many vessels from crossing, according to John-Paul Rodrigue, a maritime shipping specialist at Texas A&M University.

“Ships have been attempting transit since the announcement, but it looks like many of them are heading back because the situation is unclear,” Rodrigue told Al Jazeera. “There is contradictory information being issued by all parties.”

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said “uncertainty is the name of the game” as far as the Strait of Hormuz is concerned.

“Iran is looking for a comprehensive end to the war across the region, security assurances, sanctions relief, the unfreezing of frozen assets, regional relations – and on top of all of that – the nuclear dossier and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium,” he said.

“But right now, uncertainty is the name of the game. The fragile situation makes it hard to talk about the possibility of successful negotiations down the road.”

Multiple Video's at this link

 (I could not copy them in this posting)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/18/iran-closes-strait-of-hormuz-again-over-us-blockade-of-its-ports

'No Threat Was Present': Walz's Iran Claim Collides With the Facts

Townhall 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attacked President Donald Trump on Saturday over the Iran conflict. 

Walz claimed that Iran wasn’t a threat to the U.S. or other countries. 

"We've got a feeble-minded, trigger-happy president who plunged us into a war where no threat was present, with no clear objectives and no exit plan. We need to call that what it is. That's fascism,” Walz said at the Global Progressive Mobilization event in Barcelona, Spain. 

“There are more good people that care about equality, that understand it’s not America First. It’s humanity first.” 

Trump’s administration attacked Iran with the help of Israel, starting on Feb. 28, after Iran refused to stop pursuing nuclear weapons.

Iran has attacked America for 47 years, chanting “death to America" and funding proxy terrorism. Iran is the world's leading sponsor of terror through its military and its proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. 

Since the 1970s, Iran and its proxies have killed hundreds of Americans. 

In March, Iran launched missiles at Diego Garcia, a joint U.S.-UK base in the Indian Ocean about 4,000 kilometers away. Iran had lied about having access to missiles that could travel over 2,000 kilometers, which could strike various European cities. 

In early April, Trump said that the Iran conflict objectives are “nearing completion.” 

Israel Blindsided by Trump 'Prohibiting' Attacks in Lebanon on Truth Social

RedState 

One of the conditions imposed by Iran for its return to the bargaining table was that any ceasefire agreed to be regional. In reality, this meant that the IRGC's "Mini-me" organization in Lebanon, Hezbollah, which was getting physically demolished and made into a terrorist laughingstock by Israel, would get a respite from the well-deserved curb-stomping they were receiving.

When Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened a direct meeting between Israel and the Lebanese government (Rubio Mediates Historic Talks Between Israel, Lebanon - With Good News and Hilarious Comment About France), on one level it looked like a political coup as Tel Aviv and Beirut were it direct talks about "bringing a permanent end to 20 or 30 years of Hezbollah's influence" and possibly restoring a sense of normalcy in the area between Israel's northern frontier and the Litani River in Lebanan which has been a launch pad for Hezbollah attacks into Israel. The announcement of a 10-day ceasefire between the parties, or, more accurately, Israel's agreement to not strike targets in Lebanon, gave hope that trouncing Iran and its IRGC goblins could be the beginning of something different for a region heretofore known for terrorism, internecine violence, and damned little else; see Breaking: Trump Announces Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire After Rubio-Led Negotiations.

Trump's announcement, however, made it appear that the entire process was merely to give Iran what it wanted so talks could resume.

The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear “Dust,” created by our great B2 Bombers - No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form. This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!! Thank you! President DJT

The news that Israel was "PROHIBITED" from targeting Hezbollah and had to rely upon an agreement between Washington and Beirut for a resolution to that intractable problem hit Tel Aviv like a Biblical thunderbolt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers were shocked by Trump's post, which contradicted the text of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon that the State Department published on Thursday.

• The implication of Trump's post — that he was issuing an order that Israel had no choice but to obey — would have been unthinkable under other U.S. administrations.
• Netanyahu was personally stunned and alarmed when he learned of the post, the sources said.

Things became more tense on Friday when President Trump said, "Israel has to stop. They can't continue to blow buildings up. I am not gonna allow it."

There is no doubt that Netanyahu has walked a fine line between cooperation and malicious compliance, but I don't blame him. The U.S. can shut down Operation Epic Fury at any time and go home; for Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah are existential threats that aren't going away. During this war, Israel played the bad cop to Trump's good cop...to the extent that the "good cop" is bouncing JDAMs off your head. Israel has been the lead actor in whacking Iranian government figures, while the U.S. has gone after military targets. It is Israeli drones that have created a reign of terror at Basij checkpoints in Iranian cities.

This strategy has allowed the U.S. to attempt to negotiate an end to the war while keeping Israel as the boogeyman that causes fecal incontinence among IRGC and Iranian government leaders.

The idea that Trump can unilaterally order Israel to obey, while it runs pleasantly counter to the Jew-hatred becoming commonplace in sectors of the conservative movement, along with the noxious slander that the U.S. government is an Israeli client state, is very dangerous long-term. It brings with it the implication that Israel is not an ally but a sharp instrument with which to probe the bodily orifices of neighboring countries. That potentially makes U.S. interests targets and removes the U.S.'s ability to mediate crises.

The combination of the Truth Social post and an interview set Israel's embassy staff into high gear to find out precisely what the statements did and didn't mean. The last thing Israel needs at this moment is for Trump to get miffed and pull the plug on military aid. By the same token, it isn't reasonable to expect Israel to endure attacks from Lebanon, with no response, on the off-chance that Iran will make a deal.

According to reports, the Israelis were told, "The President's ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel clearly states that Israel will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets but preserves its right to self-defense against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks," 

That clarification keeps the door open to prevent Hezbollah attacks, including rocket launches, anywhere in Lebanon while restraining strikes against virtually nothing, effectively ignoring one of Iran's so-called "red line" negotiating points.