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In the statement attributed to him, Mojtaba Khamenei made clear that Iran sees strategic escalation, not restraint, as one of its principal tools. Reuters reported that he said the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed as a tool of pressure, while Associated Press said his remarks also warned that the waterway would continue to be used as leverage if wartime conditions persisted. He also warned that U.S. bases in the region should be shut and framed Iran’s campaign as part of a broader confrontation with foreign powers he said were trying to dominate or divide the country. Those remarks landed at a moment when markets, shipping operators and governments across the Gulf are already braced for further disruption from a conflict that has spread far beyond Israel and Iran themselves.
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