Iran will avenge the blood of its martyrs, keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and attack US bases, new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ⁠said on Thursday in a statement read out on state television, his first remarks since succeeding his slain father.

The strait, which runs past Iran's coast and supplies a fifth of the world's oil, should remain shut to put pressure on the enemy, Khamenei said.

"The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used," he said in the address.

To regional countries, he said: "I recommend that they close [US] bases as soon as possible, because they must have realised by now that the claim of establishing security and peace by America was nothing more than a lie."

He also vowed to avenge the deaths since the start of the war with the US and Israel, saying it would remain among his top priorities.

"A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities."

Khamenei's father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first wave of US-Israeli attacks at the start of the Middle East war.

Iran launched a new wave of attacks against Gulf energy targets on Thursday that sent oil prices spiking briefly above US$100 a barrel, and led to a warning that the crisis could lead to "the largest supply disruption" in history.

But US President Donald Trump dismissed growing concerns, writing on Truth Social 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". (Reuters/AFP)

Edited by Aaron Tam