A Thursday message attributed to Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was read out by a newscaster on Iranian state television while a photo of the supreme leader was shown. There have not been any signs of life from Khamenei since his appointment.
The statement said that the Strait of Hormuz must remain closed, and if necessary, other fronts would be opened.
“The will of the masses is to continue the effective and regrettable defense,” Khamenei’s apparent statement read.
“Also, the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely continue to be used. Studies have been conducted on opening other fronts where the enemy has little experience and will be extremely vulnerable, and their activation will be carried out if the war situation continues and based on the observance of interests.”
Khamenei was quoted as thanking Yemen’s Houthis and Hezbollah in Lebanon for their “defending the oppressed people of Gaza,” and “coming to the aid of the Islamic Republic despite all obstacles,” as well as the Iraqi resistance for their “courage.”
IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri wrote that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “will deliver the most severe blows to the aggressor enemy,” by keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed on his X/Twitter.
Attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and around Iran cause rising oil prices
Oil prices hit nearly $100 a barrel on Thursday as ships in the region of Iran came under attack.
A container ship owned by Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and chartered to Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk became the seventh ship attacked in the region in the past day. It is one of at least 19 ships that have been hit or damaged in the Persian Gulf since the beginning of the war, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
In its latest monthly oil market report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that global supply was expected to drop by 8 million barrels per day in March, equal to almost 8 percent of global demand, due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Middle East Gulf countries, including Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, have cut total oil production by at least 10 million barrels per day as a result of the conflict, the IEA said, adding that without a rapid restart of shipping flows, these losses were set to increase.
“Shut-in upstream production will take weeks and in some cases, months, to return to pre-crisis levels, depending on the degree of field complexity and the timing for workers, equipment, and resources to return to the region,” the agency said.
Continuing strikes against US bases in Gulf states
In the statement attributed to Khamenei, he reaffirmed that Iran would continue to target the US bases located within the Gulf, adding that these countries had been “explicitly warned” that such attacks would occur.
“From now on, we will inevitably continue to do so, although we still believe in the need for friendship between ourselves and our neighbors.
“These countries must make their duty clear to the invaders of our beloved homeland and the murderers of our people.
“I recommend that they close those bases as soon as possible because they must have realized by now that the claim of establishing security and peace by America was nothing more than a lie,” the statement read.