Iran’s top diplomat at the United Nations declared on Thursday, “We are not going to close the Strait of Hormuz,” apparently contradicting a message purportedly from the new “supreme leader” of the country, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iranian leaders announced Khamenei as the new dictator of the country this week following the elimination of his father, longtime tyrant Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the American military operation known as “Operation Epic Fury.” The younger Khamenei’s status remains unclear at press time as he has not appeared in public or issued any video statements since the announcement of his ascent to “supreme leader” status. During an event for the Iranian people to pledge “allegiance” to Khamenei, officials dragged out a cardboard effigy of the man, as he could, for unclear reasons, not attend the event.
Iranian state television aired an alleged statement from Mojtaba Khamenei on television on Thursday, the first such statement from the leader, but has not shown any video or photo proof of life for Khamenei, fueling rumors that he is severely injured or potentially dead as a result of American and Israeli airstrikes. Iranian state media referred to Khamenei as injured in a report last week, without offering any details.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s purported statement featured a host of threats against the United States, Israel, and it allies.
“The demand of the masses of the people is the continuation of effective and regret-inducing defense,” the statement claimed. “The revenge we seek is not only for the martyrdom of the great leader of the revolution. Every member of the nation who is martyred by the enemy becomes an independent case for revenge.”
The alleged Mojtaba Khamenei statement included a warning: “Certainly, the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used.”
That statement appears to contradict remarks by Amir Saeid Iravani, the top Iranian official at the United Nations, to media outlets on Thursday. Asked by the Kurdish news organization Rudaw if Iran was allowing commercial ships safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, he emphatically stated, “We are not going to close the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iravani reportedly added the vague caveat, “It is our inherent right to preserve peace and security in this waterway.”
Notably, the Iranian regime-friendly outlet Mehr News published Iravani’s comments.
“Iran will exercise its inherent right to maintain peace and security in the Strait of Hormuz; this is our responsibility,” he said, according to the Mehr translation. “Iran does not intend to close the Strait of Hormuz. However, maintaining peace and security in this lifeline waterway is our inherent right and this is considered our inherent right.”
Rudaw noted that, in addition to Khamenei’s alleged comments, the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most important commercial shipping routes – was “effectively closed” as Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had “declared it a restricted war zone.”
“The Strait of Hormuz has been closed,” the head of the IRGC, Ebrahim Jabbari, declared last week. “We will attack and set ablaze any ship attempting to cross.”
“We will not let oil be exported from the region,” he emphasized – a direct threat to Iran’s oil-rich Gulf neighbors and their buyers, many of them in East Asia.
Among the most outraged actors in response to the reported closure of the Strait was one of Iran’s closest allies: the Chinese Communist Party. China is believed to be Iran’s top oil buyer and does not have significant oil reserves of its own, making it largely dependent on oil from the Middle East to address its massive demand. Following the eruption of “Operation Epic Fury,” onlookers have filmed massive lines for gasoline throughout China as panicked residents fill up, expecting that shipments from the Middle East will dry up.
“The Strait of Hormuz and its adjacent waters are an important international trade route for goods and energy. To keep the region secure and stable serves the common interests of the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning proclaimed last week.
Beijing has repeatedly demanded that Iran not interfere in traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and for all parties involved to “stop military operations at once, avoid further escalation, keep the shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz safe, and prevent further impact on the global economy.”
The IRGC modified its first threat to set any ship near the Strait of Hormuz on fire following Chinese complaints, suggesting that friends of the Islamist regime would be allowed to transit safely through the waterway.
“We had previously said that, based on international laws and resolutions, in times of war, the Islamic Republic of Iran will have the right to control the passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC said in a subsequent statement, adding that American, Israeli, and European ships will “certainly be hit.” Due to the complexities of maritime law and ship flagging and ownership, however, it is entirely possible for a ship flying a European flag or owned by an American company to be carrying cargo meant to arrive in nations that Iran has no hostilities against, such as China or South Korea. Early reports suggest that the Chinese Communist Party did not immediately resume its traffic through the Strait out of concerns of being targeted.
On Wednesday, dramatic footage of explosions emerged from the Strait, targeting three vessels. One was identified as a Thai-flagged ship and another as bearing the flag of the Marshall Islands, two nations with no relevance to the current conflict in Iran.
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