Following the assassination of Ali Khamenei, Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has vowed continued strikes on US bases and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the US and Israel are reportedly conducting drone strikes against regime enforcers within Tehran.
Following the massive "Lion's Roar" offensive that reshaped the Middle East, the ascension of Mojtaba Khamenei to Iran's Supreme Leader has formalized a hardline continuity in Tehran. According to the pro-Israel channel Abu Ali Express, Mojtaba's first public statement vowed relentless revenge for Iranian martyrs and declared that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed. Setting an aggressive tone, the new leader demanded financial compensation from enemies, stating, "If they refuse, we will take their money. If that is not possible, we will destroy their assets to the same extent".
This rhetoric was echoed by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. News from the Field on Telegram (an Israeli news aggregator) quoted Ghalibaf warning the US against deploying ground troops to islands in the Strait of Hormuz. Framing the conflict as an existential defense of sovereign territory, Ghalibaf declared, "Homeland or death! Any aggression against Iranian islands will shatter all restraints", explicitly threatening to "fill the Persian Gulf with the blood of the invaders" and holding US President Donald Trump personally responsible.
While Iranian officials project absolute regional authority, Israeli sources emphasize the regime's internal vulnerabilities and the systematic dismantling of its infrastructure. Abu Ali Express relayed reports from Iranian opposition sources claiming that Israeli and American drones are now actively striking Basij checkpoints inside Tehran. These checkpoints were reportedly erected to suppress civilian uprisings, and the strikes are framed by Israeli sources as targeted interventions to prevent the regime from crushing anti-government protests.
The conflict has triggered severe global energy shocks through a campaign of asymmetric maritime warfare. Abu Ali Express reported that Iraq was forced to close its Basra export port following an overnight Iranian drone attack on two oil tankers, an attack for which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility. Iran also targeted fuel depots at the Salalah port in Oman. The Israeli channel criticized Oman's response, noting that despite being attacked, the Omani Foreign Minister condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran as a "dangerous chain of violations" that threaten regional stability—a diplomatic stance Abu Ali Express disparaged as "licking up to the Iranians."
Despite previous US claims that the Iranian fleet had been destroyed, Abu Saleh The Arab Desk (an analytical Israeli channel focusing on Arab affairs) clarified that while Iran's larger vessels were neutralized, the IRGC still possesses hundreds of highly dangerous fast boats. As a result, the US Navy is reportedly rejecting daily requests to escort commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, reflecting a deep American hesitation to enter a direct, wide-scale naval confrontation. Abu Saleh characterizes Iran's current approach as a "crazy strategy" of "coordinated multi-front pressure", designed to exert maximum economic pain globally while relying on proxies like Hezbollah to drag Israel into a grueling war of attrition in southern Lebanon.
All source messages were written in Hebrew, though they extensively quote and paraphrase Arab and Iranian statements. The cross-narrative analysis contrasts the relayed Iranian/Arab state perspectives (which frame their actions as defensive resistance, sovereignty protection, and legal stability) against the editorial framing of the Israeli channels (which frame Iran as desperate, its neighbors as appeasers, and US/Israeli strikes as liberating Iranian civilians from regime suppression).