India, May 1 -- Iran's supreme leader said Thursday that the Islamic Republic will protect its "nuclear and missile capabilities" as a national asset, likely seeking to draw a hard line as US President Donald Trump presses for a wider deal to cement the war's shaky three-week ceasefire.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei maintained the defiant tone he has struck since taking over as supreme leader following the killing of his father in the war's opening airstrikes.

In a written statement read by a state television anchor, Khamenei - who has not been seen in public since becoming supreme leader - said the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf is "at the bottom of its waters" and that a "new chapter" was being written in the region's ...