Supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, has released his first-ever address as ayatollah of the Islamic Republic, but he did not appear on camera to deliver it himself.

Khamenei told his compatriots in a statement read out on state media, that “the closure of the Strait of Hormuz should continue as a means of exerting pressure on the enemy” and affirmed that the Iranian regime would continue the conflict indefinitely.