Iran Digs in on Hormuz Closure, Warns War Could Spread
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Iran’s new supreme leader doubled down on his military’s decision to shut one the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. “The lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz must certainly continue,” said Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed last week to succeed his father as the head of the Islamic Republic. In a statement read by an anchor on state television, he warned the war could spread to “other fronts.”
The defiant tone lifted oil prices as traders lowered the probability that the narrow passage — through which about a fifth of the world’s crude transits — will open again in the near future. Earlier, two more tankers were hit in Iraqi waters, pointing to an increase in retaliatory action from Iran.