Iran's leaders defy Trump with bellicose talk & public parades

Within the span of a few hours on Thursday, Iran's new supreme leader said he'd keep one of the world's most important energy chokepoints closed and its head of national security said the country could plunge the whole Middle East into darkness, and hunt down US troops "running for safety.

"On Friday, senior leaders marched through the streets of Tehran in broad daylight, with thousands of others, for an annual pro-Palestinian event that state media showed as also being a pro-govt rally.It was a show of defiance toward the US and Israel, which have vowed to kill more Iranian officials after assassinating supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening strikes of the war. Those walking about, some of them taking selfies with Iranians, included President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ali Larijani, who is head of the Supreme National Security Council, and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.

After two weeks of being pummelled by American and Israeli bombs, the Islamic Republic shows no sign of seeking an off-ramp. Its counter strikes across the region have spooked global oil and bond markets, raised pump prices in the US, and shaken confidence in Gulf financial hubs.Iran "may have conveyed a false impression of weakness and incapacity," said Mira Al Hussein, as associate fellow at the Alwaleed Centre, University of Edinburgh. bloomberg