- The price of a barrel of Brent crude has surged past $126 – highest since the start of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a published written message on Thursday that a new chapter for the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz has been taking shape since the Iran war with the United States and Israel broke out on February 28.
Iran’s Supreme Leader said that Tehran would secure the Gulf region and eliminate what he described as “the enemy’s abuses of the waterway.”
The Supreme Leader added that new management of the strait would bring calm, progress and economic benefits to all Gulf nations.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who hasn’t been seen or heard from in person since he was elevated to the top job, said that the only place for Americans in the Persian Gulf “is at the bottom of its waters,” according to state TV.
He also claimed that Tehran’s “new management” of the Strait of Hormuz would “bring calm and progress” and economic benefits to all nations.
Khamenei said Iran would eliminate “the enemy’s abuses of the waterway,” adding that his country shared a common fate with other nations in the region, but “foreigners who commit evil” had no future there.
Separately on social media, he said: “A new chapter for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is unfolding.”
There have been reports that the new leader, who succeeded his father after he was killed in US-Israeli strikes on 28 February, is badly injured.
Meanwhile, the oil price spike seen yesterday and overnight has receded slightly but remains worryingly high.
A barrel of benchmark Brent crude oil costs about $116, higher than at any point during the conflict other than the early hours of this morning.
At around 5am, it was $126, a level last seen in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
While there’s been no active exchange of fire, oil and gas tankers still are not passing through the vital shipping route, the Iran-controlled Strait of Hormuz.
UK wholesale gas prices too rose to a more than two-week high, last seen on 13 April, before easing to 113 pence a therm.
Such highs will impact energy bills and the fact that they’ve lingered at these levels means inflation overall will rise.