TEHRAN, April 30 -- Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Majtaba Khamenei, has said that the future of the Persian Gulf will be "brighter without the presence of the United States," asserting that foreign forces have no place in the region.

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In a statement carried by Iranian state media, Khamenei said that recent developments in the region, following what he described as two months of conflict involving the United States and Israel, had opened a "new chapter" in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

The remarks were published by the Islamic Republic News (IRNA) on the occasion of National Persian Gulf Day, which commemorates the 1622 expulsion of Portuguese...