Iran’s state-run media issued on Thursday the primary public assertion attributed to the Islamic Republic’s new Supreme Chief, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, since his appointment within the wake of his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei’s killing on Feb. 28, within the preliminary U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
His assertion was learn out by a presenter on Iranian state tv and accompanied by a photograph of Khamenei, however no audio or video of the brand new chief. The format during which the Iranian regime launched his assertion did little to quell rumors that he might even have been incapacitated, probably even left in a coma, in the identical strike that killed his father and mom.
An Iranian official mentioned Wednesday that the brand new supreme chief was injured within the assault, however “alive and properly,” although he has not been seen for the reason that conflict started.
Within the assertion learn by the presenter on Thursday, attributed to Khamanei, he says he realized of his appointment on state TV together with everybody else in Iran, and that it might be tough to comply with in his father’s footsteps.
Reuters
“I had the chance to go to [the former Supreme Leader’s] physique after his martyrdom. What I noticed was a mountain of power, and I heard that his wholesome hand was clenched in a fist,” he mentioned.
The assertion went on to say that throughout the time earlier than Khamenei was appointed as the brand new supreme chief, within the days after his father was killed, “it was you, the individuals, who led the nation and assured its authority.”
He expressed “honest gratitude to our courageous warriors” and added that “the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz should positively proceed for use” as a device within the ongoing conflict with the U.S. and Israel.
“Research have been carried out on opening different fronts during which the enemy has little expertise and will likely be extraordinarily weak in them, and their activation will likely be carried out if the conflict state of affairs continues and primarily based on the observance of pursuits,” he mentioned.
He additionally thanked “the soldiers of the Resistance Entrance,” describing them because the Islamic Republic’s “finest buddies,” seemingly referring to Iran’s community of armed proxy teams throughout the Center East.
CBS Information 
“The courageous and devoted Yemen didn’t cease defending the oppressed individuals of Gaza, and the devoted Hezbollah has come to the help of the Islamic Republic regardless of all obstacles, and the Iraqi resistance has additionally courageously taken the identical line,” the assertion mentioned.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have to date not intervened on Tehran’s behalf for the reason that U.S. and Israel launched their assault. Hezbollah has launched weapons at Israel and probably different targets and has been the main focus of a widespread and nonetheless increasing Israeli army assault in Lebanon this week.
To Iranians who misplaced family members, or who had been harm or had their companies broken within the U.S.-Israeli strikes, Khamenei expressed his sympathy and famous that he had additionally misplaced, along with his father, his spouse, sister and different kinfolk.
The message additionally urged Iranians who had misplaced family members to have persistence and religion within the promise of God, including that Iran would “not chorus from avenging the blood of your martyrs. The revenge we intend isn’t solely associated to the martyrdom of the Supreme Chief of the Revolution; slightly, each member of the nation who’s martyred by the enemy is an unbiased topic for the revenge case.”
“We are going to obtain compensation from the enemy, and if he refuses, we’ll take as a lot of his property as we decide, and if that isn’t attainable, we’ll destroy the identical quantity of his property,” he declared.
The assertion went on to say Iran had at all times been and was nonetheless “keen to have heat and constructive relations with all” of its regional neighbors, however mentioned “the enemy has been steadily establishing army and monetary bases in a few of these nations for years with the intention to safe its dominance over the area,” seemingly justifying Iran’s missile and drone assaults on its Gulf neighbors over the previous 13 days.
Addressing why Iran was concentrating on different Gulf nations, the assertion mentioned “some army bases had been used” within the ongoing U.S.-Israeli assault, “and naturally, as we had explicitly warned, we merely attacked these bases with out attacking these nations. Any longer, we’ll inevitably proceed to take action, though we nonetheless imagine within the want for friendship between ourselves and our neighbors. These nations should make their responsibility clear to the invaders of our beloved homeland and the murderers of our individuals. I like to recommend that they shut these bases as quickly as attainable; as a result of they should have realized by now that the declare of creating safety and peace by America was nothing greater than a lie.”
