Iranâs supreme leader hints at new era for Strait of Hormuz
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has declared his nation the ‘final victors’ and promised to punish the country’s attackers.
Iranâs elusive new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has declared his nation the âfinal victorsâ while hinting at new plans for the Strait of Hormuz.
The leader has not been seen since taking over from his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike 40 days ago.
On Friday (AEST), a statement was read by a presenter on Iran state TV.
âToday, it is clear before everyoneâs eyes, the dawn of the Islamic Republicâs emergence as a great power while the evil is facing the downhill slope of weakness,â said the statement.
The ayatollah vowed punishment against the âcriminal aggressors who attacked our countryâ, saying Iran would âdemand compensation for all damages, as well as the blood of the martyrs and the woundedâ.
He also foreshadowed plans for the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran would move towards a ânew phaseâ or ânew eraâ, however he did not elaborate with details.
Iranâs blockade of the strait has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history.
But there has been no sign Iran is lifting its near-total blockade, despite reaching a ceasefire agreement with the US on Wednesday (AEST).
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In the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, just a single âoil products tanker and âfive dry bulk carriers â sailed through a strait.
Typically it accommodated 140 ships a day before the war, accounting for about a fifth âof the worldâs oil and liquefied natural gas flows.
US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in the âsix-week-old Iran conflict on Wednesday, just hours before a deadline after which he threatened to destroy Iranâs civilisation.
However the ceasefire hit a major hurdle when Israel launched its worst strikes yet on Lebanon on Thursday (AEST), killing more than 300 people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday (AEST) said he was seeking direct talks with Lebanon.
Netanyahu, whose government rebuffed a historic offer for direct talks with Lebanon last month, said in a statement that he had given instructions to start peace talks as soon as possible, which would also include disarming Iran-aligned militant group Hezbollah.
âIn light of Lebanonâs repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,â he said.
âThe negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and â Lebanon.â
An hour before Netanyahuâs statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was working on a âdiplomatic track on âthis matter that was starting to be seen âpositivelyâ by international actors.
A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had spent the last day pushing for a temporary ceasefire âto allow for broader âtalks with Israel, describing the effort as a âseparate track but the same modelâ as the US-Iran truce.
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The official said no date or location had âbeen set yet but that Lebanon needed the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement.
Israel, which invaded Lebanon last month in parallel with the war on Iran to root out Hezbollah, says its actions there are not covered by the ceasefire.
The US has also âsaid âLebanon is not covered by the truce but Iran and Pakistan, âwhich acted as mediator, say it was explicitly part of the deal.
A host âof countries including the United Kingdom and France said the truce should extend to Lebanon.
Iranâs parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, expected to head the Iranian delegation opposite US Vice President JD Vance, said on X that Lebanon and the rest of Iranâs âaxisâ of regional allies were inseparable parts of any ceasefire.
A Pakistani source said Pakistan was working on ceasefires for Lebanon as well as Yemen, where Israel has also hit Iran-aligned forces.
Israel kept up its bombing of Beirutâs southern suburbs and other parts âof the country on Thursday, Lebanese media said.
It also expanded evacuation orders for areas on Beirutâs outskirts to areas near Beirut airport and several displacement shelters.
Hezbollah âannounced at least 20 military operations on Thursday, â saying it had targeted Israeli vehicles on Lebanese territory as well as firing into northern Israel.
Lebanese officials declared a day of mourning after Wednesdayâs attacks on heavily populated areas, which they described as a âmassacreâ.
Outside Beirutâs Rafik Hariri University Hospital, a steady stream of ambulances arrived throughout Thursday afternoon full of mangled bodies recovered from the sites of Israeli strikes the previous day.
âWeâre picking up body parts for the most part. Itâs very rare that we find entire bodies intact,â a ârescue worker said.
US broadcaster NBC News reported, citing a senior US official, that Trump called on Netanyahu on Wednesday to scale back Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
The website Axios, also citing US officials, reported that US special envoy Steve Witkoff made a similar request in a separate conversation with Netanyahu.
-with AAP/DPA
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