President Donald Trump believes current Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father was slain on the first day of the US-Israel assault on Iran, is still alive but “damaged.”
Iranians haven’t seen Khamenei since his selection by a clerical assembly on Sunday. His first comments were read out by a television presenter on Thursday.
“I think he’s still alive.” In an interview with Fox News’ “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” Trump stated that while he believes he is injured, he is likely still alive in some manner.
In his initial remarks, Khamenei promised to maintain the Strait of Hormuz closed and urged neighboring countries to close US bases on their territory to avoid Iran striking them.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in an air attack, has not been in public since his selection as supreme leader last Sunday, and his defiant statement was read by a newscaster on state TV.
Khamenei, whose father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first wave of US-Israeli attacks that began the Middle East war, urged for the Strait of Hormuz to remain closed and Gulf countries to close their US military posts.
“The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used,” Khamenei said of the waterway through which a quarter of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit.
He also stated that a limited amount of Iran’s retaliation for US and Israeli strikes has “taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities.”
Iran launched a new wave of attacks on Gulf energy targets on Thursday, sending oil prices temporarily above $100 per barrel and prompting a warning that the crisis might lead to “the largest supply disruption” in history.
However, Trump downplayed rising worries, tweeting on social media that “of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil empire, Iran, from having nuclear weapons and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the world.”
On Thursday, images from Bahrain showed dense smoke billowing following a strike on fuel tanks in Muharraq, with inhabitants being instructed to stay inside and cover their windows.
Drones caused damage again at Kuwait’s international airport and in downtown Dubai, while Saudi Arabia claimed to have intercepted drones en route to its Shaybah oil field and embassy district.
Shipping in and around the critical Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill, with three more vessels assaulted in the Gulf off the coasts of the UAE and Iraq.
The Paris-based International Energy Authority, a global authority on energy markets, warned Thursday that the 13-day conflict is “creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market,” surpassing that of the 1970s.
With Gulf governments cutting production and oil ships delayed in the Gulf, benchmark oil prices have jumped 40-50 percent since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, threatening to stifle the economy and drive inflation.
A senior Iranian military official warned on Wednesday that the country could launch a long-term war that would “destroy” the global economy.
Trump, who is under increasing domestic pressure, denied that the air campaign would halt “immediately” while signaling that US forces were running out of targets to bomb.
With Gulf governments cutting production and oil ships delayed in the Gulf, benchmark oil prices have jumped 40-50 percent since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, threatening to stifle the economy and drive inflation.
A senior Iranian military official warned on Wednesday that the country could launch a long-term war that would “destroy” the global economy.
Trump, who is under increasing domestic pressure, denied that the air campaign would halt “immediately” while signaling that US forces were running out of targets to bomb.
“If the White House imagines the conflict will stop when Donald Trump decides it… they’re making a mistake and ignoring the lessons of history,” Pierre Razoux, director of studies at the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies, told AFP.
“The Iranian regime, which no longer has anything to lose, will wage a war of attrition against the United States and Israel to punish them for their aggression.”
One Tehran resident yearning for the Islamic Republic’s demise told AFP that she was concerned about the US and Israel’s decision to end their air campaign despite her concerns about the daily bombardments.
“I don’t know what will happen to us mentally and emotionally if it doesn’t work out this time,” she told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The crisis has expanded throughout the area, with Israeli attacks killing hundreds in Lebanon, including at least eight more on Beirut’s blood-stained coastline, where displaced families were camped in tents.
After the Iran-backed Hezbollah group announced a new campaign against Israel on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he was directing troops to “prepare for expanding” operations in Lebanon.
According to authorities, the violence has killed over 687 people in Lebanon, with over 800,000 individuals listed as displaced.
The war has displaced more than three million people in Iran, according to new numbers released Thursday by the United Nations refugee agency.
Israel’s military announced Thursday that it had launched a new “wide-scale” series of strikes in Iran, including one southeast of Tehran that it claimed targeted a nuclear weapons development facility.
Satellite images from Wednesday appear to show three strikes from bunker-busting weapons at the Parchin military site.
US forces said they had struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels, raising concerns that Tehran could make the Strait of Hormuz unnavigable.
The Strait, which transports a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), is located off Iran and is only 54 kilometers (34 miles) wide at its narrowest point.
Tehran has vowed that no oil will be sold from the Gulf while US-Israeli attacks continue, despite industry numbers indicating that its own sanctioned exports are still being shipped.
