us iran news : A boat floats as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
Iranian Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said Friday that “if America leaves the region, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and collective security will be established with the participation of the region’s countries, and the global economy will improve.
“If it doesn’t leave, we’ll expel it,” he added in a post on X.
Akraminia also was quoted by Iran’s Mehr News Agency as saying that “Despite Trump’s repeated allegations, Iran’s current air defense capabilities far surpass pre-war and wartime levels.”
Trump declared that Iran is no longer “the bully of the Middle East” as he touted U.S. military strikes against Tehran during a midterm campaign rally in Montana on Wednesday.
“They don’t have a Navy; they don’t have an air force; their army is decimated; their leaders are gone,” Trump said. “I should have probably left the leaders because I don’t know who we’re negotiating with. They had their first-string leaders are all gone. Their second-string leaders are all gone. Half of their third-string leaders are gone. And now their main thing that they ask in negotiation is, ‘Will you please allow us to live?’
“This is all they do. They don’t want us to go after them.”
