In his first message as the new supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, Mojtaba Khamenei showed a defiant tone on Thursday, called to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, threatened U.S. bases in the Middle East and assured that the “blood of martyrs will be avenged”.
“The Strait of Hormuz must remain closed,” Iran’s new top political and religious authority stressed in a statement read by an anchorwoman on state television as an image of Iran’s flag and a photograph of the new leader was broadcast.
First message from Mojtaba Khamenei
🇮🇷 | MIDDLE EAST WAR: The Iranian regime released Thursday afternoon the first statement by new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei:
“We are not enemies of the countries around us and we only attack the bases of those Americans.” pic.twitter.com/eD9CJGtisQ
– Alerta News 24 (@AlertaNews24) March 12, 2026
Traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, has been virtually halted by Iranian attacks on 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-Israeli attacks.
The new leader, who has not been seen in public since his election last Sunday, threatened U.S. bases in the region, which he assured will “inevitably” be attacked.
Therefore, he warned neighboring countries hosting these military facilities 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 ensure security and peace in the Middle East “has been nothing but 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 aimed at U.S. bases and not against their territories.
“We believe in friendship with our neighbors and we are only attacking bases and will inevitably continue to do so,” he maintained.
Mojtaba Khamenei said he learned on state television of his election as the new supreme leader of the Islamic Republic by the Assembly of Experts on Sunday, marking the third leader in the 47-year life of the Islamic Republic after Ali Khamenei and Ruhollah Khomeini.
“For me, taking the place of two great leaders, the great Khomeini and the martyred Khamenei, is a difficult task,” he acknowledged.
Mojtaba Khamenei was elected supreme leader on Sunday following the death of his father Ali Khamenei in Israeli and U.S. attacks after ruling the country with an iron fist for 36 years.
In addition to his father, his mother, his wife and a son were killed 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 Wednesday, citing official Iranian and Israeli sources, a claim denied by Tehran.
Mojtaba Khamenei assured that “we will not give up avenging the blood of martyrs,” including the girls killed in an attack on a school in southern Iran, which killed 168 people, and according to the preliminary U.S. 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.
Filed under: First message from Mojtaba Khamenei
With information from EFE
