Iran Keeps Strait of Hormuz Closed, New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Declares

Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, declared in his first public message that Tehran will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed as a lever of pressure, a move linked by multiple outlets to spikes in global oil prices and growing threats to shipping.

“What to know as the U”

CBS News

France 24 reported that he “ordered the vital Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane to remain closed on Thursday,” while CNN noted the new leader said the “strait will remain essentially closed as a ‘tool of pressure,’”, and The Indian Express likewise said “the Strait of Hormuz will continue to be closed to pressure Iran’s enemies.”

CBS News

CBS News framed the closure as having effectively shut the strait and noted its implications for global crude flows, saying the waterway, “through which a fifth of global crude passes, has effectively been shut down by Iranian retaliatory attacks.”

Khamenei’s statement combined regional escalation with punitive demands: he called for US military bases in the region to be closed, signalled studies into opening new fronts, and vowed compensation or seizure of enemy assets if damages are not repaid.

The Indian Express reported he said “All US bases should be immediately closed in the region,” while India TV wrote that “studies have been conducted to open additional fronts” and that “If compensation is denied, Khamenei warned Iran could seize assets or destroy equivalent property.”

CNN

France 24 also recorded his call for Gulf states to shutter US bases, and PM News Nigeria quoted him saying “We will not hesitate to avenge the blood of Iranians who have been killed,” linking the rhetoric to the Minab incident, which Iranian authorities say “killed at least 168 people, including around 110 children.”

The closure and related attacks have sharply disrupted shipping and energy markets, prompting international alarm and emergency diplomacy.

“Iran's new supreme leader will keep Strait of Hormuz shut as oil prices spike Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader, has declared in his first public statement read on state television Thursday, that he would keep the Strait of Hormuz shut to pressure the United States and Israel, as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of winding down”

France 24

CBS News reported an “extraordinary session” called by the International Maritime Organization and that “Around 500 oil tankers remain in the Persian Gulf due to Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz,” while CNN documented linked attacks — noting Iran “attacked two oil tankers off the Iraqi coast in the Persian Gulf” and that environmental group Greenpeace warned of a potential disaster with ships carrying billions of liters of oil.

France 24 and CBS both connected the maritime threat to rising oil prices, with France 24 saying the order to keep the strait shut came “as oil prices spike.”

WFRV Local 5 also noted damage to at least one Japanese-flagged ship being investigated after apparent incidents in the Gulf.

Questions about the new supreme leader’s visibility and political weight surfaced alongside his message: some sources recorded skepticism and unusual circumstances around the broadcast.

CNN observed the statement “contains some familiar regime talking points while leaving some wondering where the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ... actually is,” adding voices who said “He’s irrelevant” and that “There’s not even a single video of it.”

Global Times

WFRV Local 5 reported Khamenei “said he, like the Iranian public, only learned about being selected as supreme leader from Iranian state television,” and France 24 noted he “has yet to appear publicly since his nomination” and was “reportedly injured in an air strike.”

The Indian Express recorded his call for unity and participation on Quds Day amid these uncertainties.

Observers and outlets linked Khamenei’s speech and the Strait shutdown to a wider regional escalation with humanitarian and cultural consequences, and international diplomatic responses.

“In his first public message after succeeding his father, Mojtaba Khamenei issued a series of strong warnings amid escalating tensions in the Middle East following the death of Ali Khamenei”

India TV

WFRV Local 5 cited the U.N. refugee agency saying “up to 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the ongoing war,” while CBS News reported heavy casualties and displacement in Lebanon—“over 634 people ... including 91 children” and that “Over 800,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced.”

PM News Nigeria

CBS also noted damage to cultural sites in Iran and UNESCO concern, saying U.S. and Israeli strikes have “damaged at least four cultural and historical sites across Iran.”

CNN quoted Iranian security official Ali Larijani saying Iran “won’t relent until ‘making (US President Donald Trump) sorry’ for his ‘grave miscalculation,’” underscoring the risk of the conflict broadening and prompting emergency international meetings such as the IMO session noted earlier.