ABNA24 - As I sit here reflecting on the words that have just reached me from the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, I find myself pausing in quiet wonder. I cannot believe that a man like me, Mir Mohammad Alikhan, is the one writing this.
For years, I moved through the polished halls of Wall Street, surrounded by the very influences and mindsets that often painted a different picture of the world. My teenage years and much of my adult life unfolded in the glittering capitals of London, New York, and Paris, where the rhythm of finance, culture, and ambition shaped my days. Yet here I am, drawn by an inner pull I cannot deny, putting pen to paper on the beautiful message of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei delivered on National Persian Gulf Day, April 30, 2026. Life has a way of leading us to the most unexpected turns. What once felt like a straight path of worldly success has curved gently toward something deeper, something spiritual. Today I stand as a proud Muslim, heart full, soul awake, grateful for the grace that has brought me to this moment of clarity and connection.
The message itself is more than a national address. It speaks to every soul that yearns for peace, dignity, and freedom from outside meddling. Ayatollah Khamenei opens with a simple yet profound truth: “One of the exceptional blessings that Almighty God has bestowed on the Muslim nations of our region, and especially on the noble people of Islamic Iran, is the gift of the ‘Persian Gulf.’ This is a blessing that is more than just a body of water. It has also formed a part of our identity and civilization.” These lines resonate far beyond any single faith or flag. They remind us all that the great waters of our planet are not mere resources to be claimed or controlled. They are divine gifts meant to connect peoples, to nourish life and to carry the flow of honest trade. In an age when oceans and straits are too often viewed through the narrow lens of geopolitics, this perspective invites every peace-loving heart, whether in Jakarta or Johannesburg, Rio or Rome, to see the Persian Gulf as a shared heritage of humanity.
He goes on to describe how this strategic waterway has long provoked the greed of outsiders. “The repeated aggression carried out by European and American foreigners, along with the resulting insecurity, damages, and numerous threats against the countries of the region, are only a small part of the sinister plots orchestrated by the Arrogant Powers.” I read those words and feel them echo through history books I once studied in Western universities. From the colonial era to the present, countless regions have known the same pattern: distant powers arriving with promises of security while sowing division and extracting wealth. The Leader does not dwell in bitterness. Instead, he lifts the narrative to one of resilience and hope. He recalls Iran’s long record of resistance, from the expulsion of the Portuguese to the struggles against Dutch and British colonialism, culminating in the Islamic Revolution that “marked a turning point in these resistances by severing the hands of the Arrogant Powers from the Persian Gulf region.”
What strikes me most is how he frames recent events not as isolated incidents but as part of a larger awakening. Speaking of the past two months, he notes the “largest military deployment and aggression carried out by the world’s tyrants in the region” and the “US’s humiliating defeat in its scheme.” Without needing to rehearse the details, the message makes clear that such episodes have exposed a deeper reality: foreign military presence does not bring safety. It breeds insecurity. “It has become clear that the US’s flimsy bases lack the resilience and capability even to ensure their own security, let alone provide any hope for US’s dependents and the US worshippers in the region.” This is not a call for confrontation.
It is an invitation to every nation on earth to examine whether true security comes from distant alliances or from sovereign strength rooted in the will of the people.
Ayatollah Khamenei then turns toward the future with a vision that feels universal. “By the power and might of God, the brilliant future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without the US, where the progress, welfare, and prosperity of its nations are served. We share a ‘common destiny’ with our neighbors surrounding the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.” Those three words, common destiny, linger with me. They transcend religion, ethnicity, and politics. They speak to the simple truth that peoples living beside the same sea owe one another respect, cooperation and mutual protection. Foreigners, “from thousands of kilometers away,” have no rightful place imposing their will. The message declares they belong “at the bottom of its waters,” a poetic way of saying that external domination must end so that local harmony can flourish. I imagine readers in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia nodding in recognition, for they too have lived the story of resources exploited while local voices were silenced.
The Leader honors the Iranian nation’s role without limiting the lesson to one country. He describes “the miraculous awakening of the Iranian nation” that now includes “90 million zealous, noble Iranians, both inside and outside the country,” who see their scientific, industrial, and technological capacities as sacred national assets to be guarded just as fiercely as their borders. Yet even here the spirit is generous. Iran, he says, will manage the Strait of Hormuz not for narrow gain but to ensure “the security of the Persian Gulf and will put an end to the hostile enemy’s exploitation.” He adds, “Iran’s new management of the Strait of Hormuz and the corresponding legal framework will secure comfort and progress for the benefit of all the nations of the region. Its economic bounties will gladden the hearts of the people, by the will of God, ‘though the disbelievers may be averse to this.’”
What a powerful closing promise. The Strait, long a chokepoint of global energy, is reframed as a channel of shared prosperity. This is not rhetoric for one people alone. It is a blueprint for any region where vital waterways have been turned into arenas of tension. It calls on all of us, regardless of creed, to imagine a world where strategic assets serve humanity rather than divide it. Peace-loving hearts everywhere, from the islands of the Pacific to the mountains of the Andes, can hear in these lines a universal longing: let the seas belong to those who live beside them, let trade flow freely under fair rules, and let no distant power dictate the terms.
Reading the entire message, I am struck by its tone of calm confidence rather than anger. It acknowledges past sacrifices, including “the blood of the oppressed martyrs of the Third Imposed War,” yet pivots quickly to hope. The Leader credits divine grace and the foresight of his predecessor, yet the emphasis rests on the collective strength of ordinary people, especially “the zeal and courage of the people and youth in dear southern Iran.” This human-centered approach makes the words accessible. It tells every community that has ever felt powerless before greater forces that dignity is not granted by outsiders. It is reclaimed through unity, faith, and steadfastness.
As someone who once absorbed the dominant narratives of Western media and finance, I confess that passages like these once might have seemed distant or even threatening. Now they land differently. They resonate with the quiet convictions I have come to hold after years of soul searching. Life has shown me that true power does not lie in balance sheets or military hardware. It lies in moral clarity, in the refusal to accept humiliation, and in the belief that God’s blessings, whether a gulf, a strait or the human spirit itself, are meant for the upliftment of all.
That is why this message feels addressed to the entire peace loving world. It does not demand conversion or allegiance. It simply asks us to look at the map of our shared planet and choose cooperation over coercion, sovereignty over subservience, and prosperity for the many over privilege for the few.
In the end, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s words have left me renewed. They remind me why I feel so grateful to stand today as a proud Muslim. The journey from Wall Street boardrooms to this reflective space has not been easy, yet every step has been worth it. I see now that the spiritual level I have reached is not an escape from the world but a deeper engagement with it. The Persian Gulf, once just a name on a map in my international finance days, now symbolizes something far greater: a place where history, faith, and the future of peaceful nations converge. May the vision he outlines, a region free from external domination, secure in its own destiny and generous in its blessings, inspire not only the people who live beside those waters but every soul across our fragile yet beautiful planet that believes in justice, dignity, and lasting peace.
Life indeed brings us to the most beautiful turns. I thank God for guiding me to this one, where I can read such a message, feel its universal heartbeat, and share these thoughts with you. May the coming days see the Persian Gulf, and every vital region of our world, move closer to the harmony and prosperity that Ayatollah Khamenei so eloquently described. Inshallah!
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