Iran's new supreme leader warns in a statement that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed

BarcelonaIran's new Supreme Leader, Mukhta Khamenei, confirmed in a statement this Thursday that "the Strait of Hormuz must remain closed" to pressure "the enemies." It was his first speech since succeeding his father, Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on the first day of the joint US-Israeli military operation against Iran. However, on the television broadcast, only a female voice was heard reading a statement against a black screen. Having been wounded in an attack and facing threats from the US and Israel to eliminate him as they did his father, Khamenei has not appeared on Iranian television screens. But far from portraying him as weak, the words read seem to reinforce his position as leader of a nation united against its enemies and have prompted a reaction in the markets. where the rise in the price of oil has been accentuated

The country's highest political and religious authority has argued that to close the Strait of Hormuz, that vital channel that runs along the coast of Iran And since Iran supplies a fifth of the world's oil, it is necessary to punish its enemies—namely, the United States and Israel—for the attacks they have suffered in the past week. In this regard, the Ayatollah threatened that Iran will avenge each of its martyrs and asserted that they will continue attacking all US bases in the region. The pretext that the United States wants to guarantee security and peace in the Middle East, he said, "has only been a lie." While he has shown himself to be conciliatory toward the neighboring Gulf states, he emphasized: "The enemy has bases in these countries and has used them to attack us." Therefore, in a message that seemed to seek the sympathy of the global Muslim community, and more specifically that of the neighboring states, he recommended that the leaders close the bases, since otherwise, they will force Iran to attack them. "We believe in friendship with our neighbors, and we are only attacking bases, and we will inevitably continue to do so," he maintained.

National Unity

Khamenei thanked the "fighters at the forefront of the resistance" for their work and referred to militias such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, which have also launched attacks against US bases. "The resistance is committed to the values ​​of the Islamic Republic," he said. He also recalled the attack on a girls' school in Minab, in which 175 people, most of them children, were killed, an attack he blames on the United States, as also suggested by independent analyses and a preliminary investigation by the Pentagon itself. "We will avenge the blood of our martyrs. They will pay not only for the assassination of the former Supreme Leader, but for the blood of every Iranian civilian who has lost their life in this war," he vowed, adding: "Under any circumstances, the enemies will pay the price. We will take our revenge and destroy their facilities."

Khamenei, who was wounded in the legs during the February 28 attacks, presented himself as a martyr who lost his father, mother, wife, and son at the hands of Washington in the same attacks, and emphasized the need for the population to make sacrifices to resist. The leader, who explained that he learned of his election as the new Supreme Leader on state television, appealed for national unity, urging Iranians to resist the enemy together, overcoming their differences. He also assured that the country's authorities are developing plans to provide financial support to the war wounded.