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Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz maritime passage should be continued as a “tool to pressure the enemy,” in his first public statement since being appointed.
Khamenei also said all U.S. military bases in the Middle East should close immediately and “those bases will be attacked,” in televised comments translated by Reuters.
Oil prices extended gains following the statement, read out by a state TV broadcaster. The shipping of oil through the Strait of Hormuz has effectively stopped since the war began, causing global oil prices to soar. Iran warned yesterday that the price per barrel could climb to $200.
It’s Khamenei’s first public comments since being appointed as Iran’s supreme leader on March 9 after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in U.S.-Israeli air strikes which began in late February.
