Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s New Supreme Leader, Says Strait of Hormuz Must Remain Closed in Defiant Statement

Mojtaba Khamenei struck a defiant tone and signaled that Iran would not back down in a war that has spread across the Middle East.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the newly appointed supreme leader of Iran, issued a defiant statement on Thursday, directing the military to continue blocking a vital oil shipping route and calling for Iran’s neighbors to close U.S. military bases used to attack Iran.

The statement, Ayatollah Khamenei’s first since being chosen to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed during U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28, was an early indication of how the new supreme leader would approach the war, as well as how he would rule the country. The crisis has spread far beyond Iran’s borders and threatened regional stability and the world economy.

“Certainly, the lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used,” he said. Iran has warned that ships that pass through the strait, a vital oil shipping route on its southern coast, are at risk of attack, effectively halting transit through the waterway and sending the price of oil spiraling upward in recent days.

Ayatollah Khamenei also promised to avenge the death of Iranians killed by U.S. and Israeli air strikes.

“We will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a section addressed to the Iranian nation, according to text of the statement published by Iranian state media.

He referred specifically to a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab in southern Iran, which an ongoing U.S. military investigation has determined the United States was responsible for. Iranian officials have said the death toll was at least 175 people, most of them children.

In addition, he said, Iran has studied the possibility of “opening other fronts in areas where the enemy has little experience and would be highly vulnerable,” though it was unclear what exactly he was referring to.

Ayatollah Khamenei also appeared to issue a warning to Iran’s neighbors in the Middle East to sharply curtail their military cooperation with the United States. In response to U.S. and Israeli attacks, Iran’s military has launched missile and drone strikes across the Persian Gulf region, targeting U.S. military bases and American interests, though it has also hit civilian infrastructure.

“I recommend that they shut down those bases as soon as possible, because by now they must have realized that America’s claim of establishing security and peace has been nothing more than a lie,” he said, referring to Iran’s neighbors.

Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and an expert on Iranian security issues, said Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement was even more defiant in tone than his father’s utterances, particularly in how explicit he was about military strategy.

“He gets right to the point,” Mr. Azizi said. “It tells a lot, I think, about the direction of the country.”

Mr. Azizi raised the possibility that the statement had been written for Ayatollah Khamenei by other powerful figures in Iran and delivered in his name, but “What matters is that this is the reflection of the tone of the system,” he said.

“Whoever is making decisions is not going to show any sign of compromise or appeasement.”

While this was the first time Ayatollah Khamenei had issued a written statement since succeeding his father, he still has not appeared on video or in public. Three Iranian officials earlier told The New York Times that there is concern that doing so would reveal his location and put him in danger. The officials also said he had been injured on the opening day of the U.S.-Israeli attack, which may explain the decision to only issue a statement.

His statement briefly veered into the personal. He noted the loss of his wife, sister and other family members in addition to his father during the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign. Mr. Azizi said it signaled that the new leader viewed his cause as not just a national or ideological one, but also a personal one.

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