Mojtaba Khamenei Issues First Statement After Becoming Iran’s Supreme Leader, Says Iran Should Use Strait of Hormuz Closure as Leverage

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says that the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz should be used and that Iran's attacks on Gulf Arab neighbors will continue. His first statement since his appointment was read on state television Thursday by a news anchor. Iranian state television offered no explanation of why Khamenei, 56, did not appear on camera. Israeli intelligence assessments suggest he was wounded in the war, likely in the Feb. 28 Israeli strike that killed his father, the 86-year-old late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked back over $100 as Iranian strikes have hit ships and the American-Israeli war with Iran showed no signs of slowing. U.S. President Donald Trump has meanwhile promised to "finish the job," even though he claimed Iran is "virtually destroyed." ‘Will Not Forgo Vengeance’: Iran’s New Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei Says in First Statement, Signals Tough Response.

Thursday's major developments include Iran's attacks against commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz and Iraq's port of Basra, escalating its defense strategy of pressuring the U.S. by squeezing the oil-rich Gulf region to threaten global economic stability. The first week of the war cost the United States $11.3 billion, according to the Pentagon. The Israeli military also is striking Iran and attacking Iran's militant ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. The U.N. refugee agency says up to 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the ongoing war.

Supreme Leader Offers No Clues to His Location As Airstrikes Pound Tehran

Khamenei said he, like the Iranian public, only learned about being selected as supreme leader from Iranian state television. He did not mention his location in the statement as well as he's likely in a secure, secret location to avoid a threatened Israeli operation to kill him. Minutes after the speech ended, the sound of airstrikes again boomed across Iran's capital.

Khamenei Describes the Deaths of His Family Members

Khamenei acknowledged in his speech the death of his father, signaling he was there in the aftermath and saw his father's body. Khamenei also confirmed his wife, one of his sisters, his niece and the husband of his other sister also were killed in the airstrike. "I had the honor of seeing his body after his martyrdom," Khamenei said of his father. "What I saw was a mountain of steadfastness, and I was told that the fist of his intact hand had been clenched." India Rejects ‘5-Day Delay’ Claim in Signing Condolence Book for Ayatollah Khamenei, Calls It ‘Ill-Informed’.

Khamenei’s First Statement Signals a Continuation of His Slain Father’s Strategy in Confronting the US and Israel

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei's remarks suggested Iran may open up new fronts in the war if it continues. That likely would signal a return by Iran to the militant attacks the United States has blamed on it in the past, including the 1983 U.S. Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut and others. "One point I must emphasize is that, in any case, we will obtain compensation from the enemy," Khamenei said. "If it refuses, we will take from its assets to the extent we deem appropriate, and if that is not possible, we will destroy its assets to the same extent."

When Ali Khamenei took over from the late Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, he did not immediately make a public speech in person, instead waiting until after a 40-day mourning period. However, Mojtaba Khamenei finds himself and the Iranian government he leads in perhaps its most-desperate fight since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Khamenei acknowledged in his speech the death of his father, signaling he was there in the aftermath and saw his father's body. Khamenei also confirmed his wife, one of his sisters, his niece and the husband of his other sister also were killed in the airstrike. Khamenei also said that the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz should be used and that attacks on Iran's Gulf Arab neighbors will continue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 12, 2026 08:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).