Zürcher Nachrichten - New Iranian supreme leader calls for defiance, keeps key waterway shut

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in an air strike, has yet to appear publicly since his nomination last Sunday as supreme leader, and his defiant message was read by a newscaster on state television.

Khamenei, whose father Ali Khamenei was killed in the first wave of US-Israeli attacks at the start of the Middle East war, called for the Strait of Hormuz to remain blocked and for Gulf countries to close their US military bases.

"The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used," Khamenei said of the waterway through which a quarter of world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit.

He added that "a limited amount of" Iran's revenge for US and Israeli strikes had "taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities."

Iran launched a new wave of attacks against Gulf energy targets on Thursday that sent prices oil spiking briefly above $100 a barrel and led to a warning that the crisis could lead to to "the largest supply disruption" in history.

But Trump dismissed growing concerns, writing on social media that "of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World."

- Vessels attacked -

Images from Bahrain on Thursday showed thick smoke rising after a strike on fuel tanks in Muharraq, with residents told to stay inside and close their windows.

Drones caused damage again at Kuwait's international airport and in downtown Dubai, while Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted drones headed towards its Shaybah oil field and its embassy district.

Shipping in and around the crucial Strait of Hormuz remains at a near-standstill, with another three vessels attacked in the Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

The Paris-based International Energy Authority, a world authority on energy markets, warned Thursday the 13-day conflict "is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", which would surpass those of the 1970s.

With Gulf states slashing production and oil tankers stuck in the Gulf, benchmark oil prices have risen 40-50 percent since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, threatening to crimp growth and stoke inflation.

- 'Mistake' -

A top Iranian military figure warned on Wednesday that the country could wage a prolonged war that would "destroy" the world economy.

Trump, who is under mounting domestic pressure, ruled out the air campaign ending "immediately" while indicating that US forces were running out of targets to hit.

"If the White House imagines the conflict will stop when Donald Trump decides it... they're making a mistake and ignoring the lessons of history," Pierre Razoux, director of studies at the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies, told AFP.

"The Iranian regime, which no longer has anything to lose, will wage a war of attrition against the United States and Israel to punish them for their aggression."

One Tehran resident hoping for the fall of the Islamic republic told AFP she was worried about the US and Israel calling off their air campaign despite her fears about the daily bombardment.

"I don't know what will happen to us mentally and emotionally if it doesn't work out this time," she told AFP on condition of anonymity.

- 'End of the line' -

The conflict has spread across the region, with hundreds killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including at least eight more who died on Beirut's blood-stained seafront where displaced families were camping in tents.

After the Iran-backed Hezbollah group announced a new operation against Israel on Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he was ordering troops to "prepare for expanding" attacks on Lebanon.

The violence has killed more than 687 people in Lebanon, according to authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced.

In Iran, over three million people have been displaced by the war, according to new figures issued Thursday by the UN's refugee agency.

Israel's military said it had began a new "wide-scale" wave of strikes in Iran on Thursday, including one southeast of Tehran that it said had targeted a site used for developing nuclear weapons.

Satellite imagery from Wednesday shows what appeared to be three strikes from bunker-busting munitions at the Parchin military facility.

US forces said they had struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels amid fears that Tehran could render the Strait of Hormuz unnavigable.

The Strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes, lies off Iran and is just 54 kilometres (34 miles) wide at its narrowest point.

Tehran has vowed that not one litre of oil will be exported from the Gulf while US-Israeli attacks continue, although industry figures suggest its own sanction-hit exports are continuing to get through.

- Oil prices spike again -

Oil prices have soared past $100 a barrel despite an announcement that leading consumer countries would authorise a record release of their strategic crude reserves in action coordinated by the IEA.

The move was not enough to allay fears of a global crisis.

"In trading desk language, the IEA release is the equivalent of pointing a garden hose at a refinery blaze," commented Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.

Iran's health ministry said on March 8 that more than 1,200 people have been killed in the war, a figure AFP has not been able to independently verify.

In Israel, authorities said 14 people have been killed, while attacks in the Gulf have killed 24 people, including 11 civilians and seven US military personnel, according to local authorities and the US Central Command.

The war has cost the United States more than $11.3 billion, lawmakers were told in a Pentagon briefing, according to the New York Times.

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E.Schneyder--NZN