Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has broken his silence — issuing his first public statement since being appointed Iran's third supreme leader on Sunday March 8, 2026, following the killing of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US-Israeli airstrikes that launched the war on February 28. The statement, read by a presenter on Iranian state television on Thursday March 12, was accompanied only by a photograph of the new leader — with no audio or video of Khamenei himself — immediately fuelling speculation about the true state of his health after Israeli intelligence confirmed he was wounded in the same strike that killed his father.
The statement was simultaneously distributed through a new Telegram channel created by his office and published in English by the Tasnim News Agency, run by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. It runs to several pages and covers the full range of Iran's war strategy — from personal grief and national unity to military escalation, the Strait of Hormuz, new war fronts, compensation demands, and a direct message to the United States, Israel and Iran's Gulf neighbours.
The story was confirmed and reported by Vanguard, Daily Post Nigeria, CBS News, CNN, Al Jazeera, Newsweek, Axios, NPR, and Israel Hayom, all citing the statement as broadcast on Iranian state television and distributed through the new Supreme Leader's official Telegram channel on March 12, 2026.
'I Lost My Father, My Wife, My Sister's Child' — The Personal Grief
The most emotionally striking section of Mojtaba Khamenei's first statement was his deeply personal account of what he lost on the day the war began — February 28, 2026 — when a US-Israeli airstrike hit the compound where he was present with his father and family members.
"I lost my father, I lost my wife. My sister lost her child as well as her husband," Khamenei said in the statement. He went further in another section: "Beyond my father, I have entrusted to the convoy of martyrs my dear and faithful wife, and my devoted sister and also her young child, and my brother-in-law, who was a learned and respected man."
In the single most striking image of the entire statement, Khamenei described viewing his father's body after the airstrike: "I had the honour of seeing his body after his martyrdom. What I saw was a mountain of steadfastness, and I was told that the fist of his intact hand had been clenched." He added that he learned of his own appointment as supreme leader from Iranian state television — at the same time as ordinary Iranians. "For me, to sit in the place that was the seat of two distinguished leaders — the great Khomeini and the martyred Khamenei — is a heavy thing," he said.
The depth of personal loss in Mojtaba Khamenei's statement is extraordinary — and the regime appears to be using it deliberately. By framing the new Supreme Leader as a man who has lost his father, his wife, his brother-in-law and his niece in the very first hours of the war, the Iranian government is making a powerful emotional case: that this is not just a war between states, but a personal blood feud — and that the man now leading Iran has every reason imaginable to fight it to the end.
'Revenge Is A File That Will Remain Open' — The War Vows
Having established the depth of his personal loss, Mojtaba Khamenei then turned to the war itself — making crystal clear that he has no intention of seeking a ceasefire, opening negotiations, or moderating his father's hard-line positions.
"We will not forgo avenging the blood of the martyrs. Every citizen killed by the enemy is a case for vengeance in itself," he declared. CNN's Iran analyst Arash Azizi described the statement as containing "no promise of reform and no indication that he intends to abandon any of his father's core policies," adding that it gives "very little hope to Iranians for a better future."
On compensation and reparations, Khamenei was specific and menacing: "We will receive compensation from the enemy, and if he refuses, we will take as much of his property as we determine, and if that is not possible, we will destroy the same amount of his property."
Significantly, Khamenei offered no indication of what Iran would accept as an end to the war — no off-ramp, no conditions for ceasefire, no diplomatic opening. Revenge, he implied, is not a transaction to be settled but a permanent posture: "The revenge we intend is not only related to the martyrdom of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution; rather, every member of the nation who is martyred by the enemy is an independent subject for the revenge case."
Strait Of Hormuz Will Stay Closed — New War Fronts Coming
On the military and strategic dimensions of the war, Mojtaba Khamenei delivered two messages that sent oil markets surging and global analysts scrambling.
First — the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed. "The lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz must certainly continue to be used," he declared. This directly contradicts any hope that the new Supreme Leader might use his appointment as an opportunity to signal flexibility on the Hormuz closure — the single most damaging Iranian action against the global economy. With oil prices already above $100 per barrel, the confirmation that Hormuz will stay closed for the foreseeable future is a major shock to global energy markets.
Second — and perhaps more alarming — Mojtaba Khamenei announced that Iran is preparing to open entirely new war fronts. "Studies have been conducted on opening other fronts in which the enemy has little experience and will be extremely vulnerable," he said. "Their activation will take place if the wartime situation continues and in accordance with considerations of expediency." He did not specify where these new fronts might be — but his references to Yemen's Houthis, who he said "will also do the job," and to Iraqi militias who "want to help," strongly suggest that a Houthi entry into the war may be imminent.
US Bases Must Close Immediately — Or Be Attacked
Mojtaba Khamenei delivered a direct ultimatum to Iran's Gulf neighbours — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE — that host American military bases: shut those bases down immediately, or they will be attacked.
"All US bases in the region should be immediately closed or will be attacked," he declared. He added that while "Iran believes in friendship with its neighbours," attacks on US bases would continue regardless of which country they are located in. This is a dramatic escalation — directly threatening the sovereignty and security of Gulf Arab states that have so far maintained a fragile neutrality in the conflict.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain host between them approximately 30,000 American military personnel and some of the most strategically important US military installations in the world — including the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which serves as the headquarters of US Air Forces Central Command. If Iran were to launch a sustained campaign against these bases, the war would expand from a US-Israeli-Iranian conflict into a catastrophic regional war drawing in the entire Gulf.
The Question Nobody Can Answer — Is Mojtaba Khamenei Really In Charge?
The most unsettling dimension of Thursday's statement is what it could not definitively prove: that Mojtaba Khamenei is actually in control, alive, conscious, and personally directing Iran's war strategy.
The statement was read by a presenter on Iranian state television. No audio of Khamenei's voice was included. No video of Khamenei was shown. The statement was accompanied only by a photograph. Iranian state TV offered no explanation for why the Supreme Leader did not appear on camera — fuelling intense speculation that he may be incapacitated, possibly even in a coma, from the injuries he sustained on February 28.
CNN confirmed Wednesday that Khamenei suffered a broken bone in his foot, a contusion to his left eye, and facial lacerations in the February 28 strike. An Iranian official said he was "alive and well" — but he has not been seen publicly since the war began, now thirteen days ago. Israel Hayom reported that his father, mother, wife and daughter were all killed in the same strike — and that he survived only by chance.
The format of Thursday's statement — written, read by someone else, no video, no voice — does little to resolve those questions. Whether the real Mojtaba Khamenei is directing Iran's war effort, or whether the Revolutionary Guard and hardline clerics are governing in his name while he recovers, is a question that could determine the entire trajectory of this war.
Wetin This Statement Mean for the World and Nigeria
Mojtaba Khamenei's first statement dey carry one clear and chilling message for the entire world: this war no go end soon.
The new Supreme Leader don make it clear — Hormuz go stay closed. New war fronts dey coming. US bases go continue to be attacked. Revenge na a "file that will remain open." And Iran go demand compensation from the US and Israel even after the war ends.
For Nigeria, this statement means the oil price disruption wey don push petrol to ₦1,075 per litre go continue — and could get worse. It means the global economic uncertainty wey dey affect the naira, inflation and Nigeria's foreign reserves go intensify. And it means the Iran-Israel-US war — which started on February 28 — go likely still be the biggest story in the world when Tinubu arrives in Windsor to meet King Charles on March 18.
A 56-year-old man who lost his father, mother, wife, sister's child and brother-in-law in a single airstrike on a single day is now the Supreme Leader of a nation of 90 million people with thousands of ballistic missiles, drones and the ability to close the world's most important oil strait. And he has just told the world: the file of revenge will remain open. 🌍🇳🇬⚠️🕊️
Source: This report is based on statements confirmed and reported by Vanguard, Daily Post Nigeria, CBS News, CNN, Al Jazeera, Newsweek, Axios, NPR, and Israel Hayom, all citing the statement as broadcast on Iranian state television and distributed through Mojtaba Khamenei's official Telegram channel and the Tasnim News Agency on March 12, 2026.