Iran’s new supreme leader purportedly issues defiant first statement, without appearing

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public, ostensibly vowed on Thursday to avenge the deaths since the start of the war with the US and Israel, in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV.

“I assure everyone that we will not neglect avenging the blood of your martyrs,” Khamenei purportedly told the Iranian people.

The statement was presented as Khamenei’s first since he was proclaimed as the Islamic Republic’s new supreme leader on Sunday and after the killing of his father and predecessor in US and Israeli strikes.

The 56-year-old has yet to make a public appearance since his appointment and regime officials have indicated he was lightly injured during the ongoing war. State TV offered no explanation for why the remarks were read out by a presenter rather than delivered in a video or audio address.

“A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities,” Khamenei said, according to the statement.

“We will seek compensation from the enemy, and if they refuse, we will take as much of their property as we determine, and if that is not possible, we will destroy the same amount of their property,” he ostensibly added.

Iran’s health ministry claimed on March 8 that more than 1,200 people had been killed in the war, and over 10,000 civilians injured.

On February 28, Israel killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an airstrike at the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran, triggering the war that has since spread across the Middle East.

Iran has responded with drone and missile strikes on Israel and US interests across the region and effectively closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

In the statement attributed to him, Mojtaba Khamenei said Iran’s neighbors should close all US bases on their territory, and said the Islamic Republic would continue to attack any such bases.

“The claim of establishing security and peace by America was nothing more than a lie,” the statement said.

The message also called for using “the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz” — a strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil passes.

“The popular demand is to continue our effective defense and make the enemy regret! The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used,” Khamenei ostensibly urged.

The statement also thanked Iran’s allies in the region, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq.

“We consider the countries of the Resistance Front our best friends, and the cause of resistance and the Resistance Front are an inseparable part of the values of the Islamic Revolution,” it said.

Following the reading of the statement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had launched strikes on Israel and US bases in tribute to Khamenei and his family, and that, in keeping with his orders, they would keep the Strait shut.

Two tankers were ablaze in an Iraqi port on Thursday after being hit by suspected Iranian explosive-laden boats, a step-up in attacks that have cut off oil from the Middle East. The attacks were a clear sign of defiance of US President Donald Trump, who said on Wednesday that the United States had already won the war.