APTOPIX Iran US Israel
A woman sits on rubble across from a residential building damaged last Sunday during the U.S.-Israeli air campaign in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, March 12, 2026.
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Iran’s new supreme leader released his first statement since succeeding his late father. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that Iran would keep up its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors and use the effective closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the United States and Israel. Khamenei, 56, who Israel suspects was wounded in the opening salvo of the war, did not appear on camera, as his statement was read by a state TV news anchor. The statement included a vow to avenge those killed in the war, including in a strike on a school that killed over 165 people.
His first statement since his appointment was read on state television Thursday by a news anchor.Â
Iran’s new supreme leader vowed to keep attacking the country's Gulf Arab neighbors and using its threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz as leverage. On Thursday, an anchor on Iranian state TV read Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei's first statement since becoming supreme leader. Khamenei did not appear on camera. An Israeli assessment indicates he was wounded in the war’s opening salvo. Oil prices have spiked above $100 as Iranian strikes keep hitting ships, effectively shutting down Persian Gulf oil exports. The Pentagon says the first week of war cost the United States $11.3 billion.
