TEHRAN.– In his first message as the new supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, Mojtaba Khamenei showed a defiant tone this Thursday, calling to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, threatening United States bases in the Middle East and ensuring that the “blood of the martyrs will be avenged.”
“The Strait of Hormuz must remain closed,” stressed Iran’s new highest political and religious authority in a statement read by a presenter on state television while an image of the Iranian flag and a photograph of the new leader were broadcast.
Traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, has been practically stopped by Iranian attacks against ships in the area since the beginning of the war launched by the United States and Israel on Saturday, February 28 against the Islamic Republic.
Mojtaba Khamenei is the son of the former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on the first day of the US attacks. and Israel. The new leader, who has not been seen in public since his election last Sunday, threatened US bases in the region, which he assured would “inevitably” be attacked.
For this reason, he warned the neighboring countries that host these military installations that they must make a decision about it: “I recommend that they close these bases as soon as possible.”
In his opinion, the claim that the United States wants to guarantee security and peace in the Middle East “has been nothing more than a lie.”
Khamenei assured that he seeks warm and constructive relations with his 15 neighboring countries and maintained that the attacks that several of them have suffered in the war were directed at United States bases and not against their territories.
“We believe in friendship with our neighbors and we are only attacking bases and we will inevitably continue to do so,” he said.
Mojtaba Khamenei assured that he learned on state television of his election as the new supreme leader of the Islamic Republic by the Assembly of Experts on Sunday, in which he becomes the third leader in the 47 years of life of the Islamic Republic after Ali Khamenei and Ruholá Khomeini.
“For me, taking the place of two great leaders, the great Khomeini and the martyr Khamenei, is a difficult task,” he acknowledged.
Mojtaba Khamenei was elected supreme leader on Sunday after the death of his father Ali Khamenei in Israeli and American attacks after ruling the country with an iron fist for 36 years.
In addition to his father, his mother, his wife and a son died in the attacks that began on Saturday, February 28 and continue to this day.
The new leader was wounded in the legs in those attacks, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing official Iranian and Israeli sources, a claim that was denied from Tehran.
Mojtaba Khamenei assured that “we will not give up avenging the blood of the martyrs,” including the girls murdered in an attack on a school in southern Iran, which caused the death of 168 people, and according to the preliminary US investigation was the responsibility of the United States.
“The revenge we have in mind is not limited only to the martyrdom of the great leader of the Revolution,” he said regarding his father.
