Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader, has published his first written statement since taking office, warning that the country will continue to block the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important oil shipping routes.
According to Iranian state media, Khamenei spoke in defiant tones, saying that Iran will not back down from "avenging the blood of martyrs" and that it will continue to strike United States military bases in the region.
Khamenei, 56, took over the country after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in Israeli airstrikes in Tehran at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign last month. According to Iranian and Israeli officials, he was wounded in the initial strikes, although the circumstances and extent of his injuries remain unclear.
Meanwhile, tensions in the region have escalated further. Two oil tankers were attacked off the coast of Iraq, forcing Oman and Iraq to close their oil terminals. The International Energy Agency warned that the war in the Middle East has caused “the largest oil supply disruption in the history of the global market.”
The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic corridor through which about a fifth of the world's oil passes, so any blockage of it risks shaking up global energy markets.
According to the United Nations, the fighting has forced up to 3.2 million people to be displaced within Iran, while the death toll since the start of the conflict has approached 2,000 people, the majority in Iran.
