Iran's New Supreme Leader Khamenei Vows to Keep Strait of Hormuz Closed, Warns US Bases Will Be Targeted

Iran's newly appointed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has vowed to maintain the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure tool against adversaries, and warned that all US military bases in the region must be shut down immediately or face targeting — while reiterating that Iran does not seek to damage relations with neighbouring countries.

In a statement read on state television, Khamenei called for national unity and urged Iranian citizens to participate in Quds Day events. The remarks represent his first significant policy statements since being appointed Supreme Leader following the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, in a US-Israeli strike on February 28.

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Khamenei explicitly said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz should be maintained as a means of pressuring Iran's adversaries. He acknowledged that some attacks against Iran had been launched from US bases located in neighbouring countries, but stressed that Tehran's retaliation would focus on those bases rather than the countries hosting them.

"All US bases in the region must be shut down immediately," he said, adding that those facilities would be targeted. He vowed the campaign would continue and declared that Iran would not refrain from avenging the blood of what he called its "martyrs."

In remarks shared on his newly created X account, Khamenei acknowledged the weight of assuming leadership from his father and predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khomeini's legacy.

"For me, leaning upon a place that has been the seat of two great leaders, the great Khomeini and the martyred Khamenei, is a difficult task," he said. He described visiting his father's body after death and recounted that he "saw a mountain of steadfastness."

He credited the Iranian people with sustaining the system through the crisis, saying their courage and presence had compelled "friends to admiration and foes to astonishment."