JAKARTA - The new Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a statement read by a presenter on state television on Thursday said Iranian forces must keep the strategic Strait of Hormuz closed.
"The lever to block the Strait of Hormuz must really be used," Khamenei said of the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil traffic passes, Al Arabiya and AFP reported (12/3).
It was his first public statement since he was proclaimed Iran's new Supreme Leader on Sunday and after the killing of his father and predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack.
Further, Khamenei called on countries in the region to close any US bases they host.
"I recommend that they close these bases as soon as possible, because they must have realized by now that America's claims about building security and peace are nothing but lies," Khamenei said.
The son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to avenge the death since the start of the war with the US and Israel.
"A small portion of this retaliation has so far been realized in a tangible way, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain one of our priorities," he said.
"We will demand 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," Khamenei added.
It is known that tensions have increased in the Middle East, following the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran on February 28, which Tehran said killed more than 1,300 people, including Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader, and more than 150 students.
Since then, Iran has launched drone and missile attacks targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf states hosting US military assets.
Tehran has also effectively tightened the Strait of Hormuz since March 1. This narrow waterway transports around 20 million barrels of oil per day and about 20 percent of global liquefied natural gas trade.
Khameni, 56, has not appeared in public since his appointment. State television reported he had been wounded during the ongoing war.
The new leader 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 as our best friends, and the resistance struggle and the Resistance Front are an inseparable part of the values of the Islamic Revolution," he said.
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