🇮🇷 Mojtaba Khamenei has issued his first statement since taking over as Iran’s supreme leader after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several family members were assassinated in the United States and Israeli strikes at the outset of the war that has now embroiled much of the Middle East.
In the statement, which was read on Press TV on Thursday, Khamenei called for national unity and said the vital global artery of the Strait of Hormuz would continue to be closed to pressure Iran’s enemies.
He added that all US bases in the region should be immediately closed or will be attacked. And vowed: “We will not refrain from avenging the blood of the martyrs.”
While Iran believes in friendship with its neighbours, Khamenei said, attacks on US bases in the region would continue.
We will, in any case, obtain compensation from the enemy. If they refuse, we will take from their assets to the extent we deem appropriate; and if that is not possible, we will destroy an equivalent amount of their property.
Armed groups in Yemen “will also do the job”, the supreme leader said, adding that those in Iraq also “want to help” the Islamic revolution.
Khamenei thanked Iran’s military, which he said had stopped it from being dominated or divided as it came under attack.
“I would like to thank the brave fighters who are doing a great job at a time when our country is under pressure and under attack,” he said and pledged that Iran would continue fighting.
🔗 Al Jazeera || Tribune NG
Iran supreme leader’s first purported message leaves a major question unanswered
Four days after his appointment as Iran’s new supreme leader, the world finally got a glimpse of Mojtaba Khamenei’s worldview.
But Khamenei – now elevated to the rank of Ayatollah and dubbed the “exalted leader” of the Islamic Revolution by his acolytes – didn’t appear on video or release an audio statement.
Instead, he purportedly issued a lengthy written message which was then read out on state television, outlining his views on the trajectory of the war, praising Iran’s armed forces and demanding reparations from those who have attacked his country.
The message was quickly disseminated through a new Telegram channel created by his office. It was laden with coded symbolism meant to appeal to his base and underlined with the release of an image of three handwriting samples — one from the first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, one from the slain Ali Khamenei, and one from the son himself.
The message was clear: a new era was beginning, and its leader was positioning himself as the rightful heir to those who came before him.
According to the statement, Khamenei learned of his appointment from state television, suggesting he too was caught by surprise. He also used flowery language to describe his late father, saying he was able to see his dead body after his death – his fist clenched in what he said was a final sign of resistance. The elder Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes at the start of the war.
Khamenei’s message was filled with the usual bombastic rhetoric: lauding the “resistance front,” code for Iran’s badly depleted proxy network and calling on neighboring countries to shut down US bases while threatening to continue targeting US interests in the region.
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