Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday published his first written statement since assuming office on March 8, vowing to avenge “the blood of the martyrs,” including his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran’s revenge “is not limited to the martyrdom of the great leader of the [Islamic] Revolution alone,” the newly minted supreme leader wrote in his remarks, which were read on state TV and posted to X.
برادران عزیز رزمنده! خواست تودههای مردم، ادامه دفاع موثر و پشیمانکننده است. همچنین قطعاً همچنان از اهرم مسدود کردن تنگه هرمز باید استفاده شود.
— رسانه رهبر انقلاب اسلامی (@Rahbarenghelab_) March 12, 2026
Khamenei, 56, told Iranians he “learned at the same time as you,” through a television broadcast, that the Assembly of Experts had decided to appoint him as his father’s successor on Sunday.
“To sit in the place where the two great leaders—the great Khomeini and the martyred Khamenei—once sat is a difficult task,” explained Mojtaba.
He emphasized that the “lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must certainly continue to be used.”
Khamenei in the statement expressed “sincere thanks” to the Axis of Resistance, which includes Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups across the Middle East and beyond.
“Cooperation between the components of the Axis of Resistance will shorten the path to overcoming the Zionist sedition,” he stated. “Brave and faithful Yemen has not ceased defending the oppressed people of Gaza; Hezbollah, despite all obstacles, has aided the Islamic Republic; and the Iraqi resistance has courageously pursued the same course.”
The regime is considering “opening other fronts where the enemy has little experience and would be highly vulnerable,” Khamenei warned, adding, “Activating them—should the state of war continue—will be undertaken in accordance with the relevant considerations.”
The younger Khamenei sustained leg wounds in the opening strikes of “Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury” on the morning of Feb. 28, several Iranian and Israeli officials told The New York Times this week.
The report cited three Iranian and two Israeli officials as saying that Khamenei’s legs were hurt, but that the circumstances as well as the extent of the new supreme leader’s injuries remained unclear.
An Israeli official told Reuters that Khamenei was “lightly wounded.” The official cited Israeli intelligence assessments as saying that the injury could explain why the supreme leader has yet to appear in public.
A Tehran ceremony to pledge allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei on Tuesday reportedly featured a cardboard cutout of the new leader, with the state-run Tehran Times reporting that “pictures of both Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son were prominently displayed.”
