A message from Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader Motjaba Khamenei appeared to defy a resolution passed by the United Nationas (UN) Security Council demanding Tehran immediately stop all attacks directed at Arab countries in the region.

The resolution, which passed with 13 voters in favour and two abstentions from Russia and China, only targeted Iran’s retaliatory strikes but made no demands on the United States (US) or Israel in relation to continuing military action targeting Iran.

Khamenei, whose first public statement was read on Iranian state television, said all US military bases in the Middle East should close immediately, that those bases would be attacked and that the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed as a tool to “pressure the enemy” a likely reference to the US.

Pressure on global markets continued as the war approached the two week mark with oil prices now hovering above $90 a barrel amid continued maritime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, despite a binding Security Council resolution calling on Iran to comply fully with its obligations under international law and reaffirming the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms by merchant and commercial vessels while condemning any action by Iran aimed at closing or obstructing international navigation through the Strait.

But given the latest statement from Iran’s Supreme Leader, that legally binding resolution is likely to be defied.

“This resolution is a manifest injustice against my country, the main victim of a clear act of aggression. It distorts the realities on the ground and deliberately ignores the root causes of the current crisis. Iran reemphasises that its defense operation targeting US military bases and facilities in the region are in no way against sovereignty and territorial integrity of the regional countries. Also, the Israeli regime has succeeded in dragging the United States into a regional conflict,” says Iran’s envoy to the UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani.

–Reuters–