In a statement read on television, Mojtaba Khamenei said Tehran would ‘demand compensation’ for damages caused by the war.
Published on 9 April 2026
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has claimed “final victory” in the war with Israel and the United States, as Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon threaten a fragile ceasefire.
Marking 40 days since his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on the first day of the war, Khamenei said in a statement on Thursday that, during the war, Iran “surprised the world”.
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Khamenei, 58, who has not been seen or heard from since the war began, said in a statement read on television that Tehran was not seeking war but was fighting for its legitimate rights.
“We will definitely not spare the criminal attackers who have attacked our country,” he said. He said Iran would “demand compensation for all losses, as well as the blood of the martyrs and the injured”.
Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked since the war began on February 28 and has become a key obstacle to US-Iran proposals to end the war, Khamenei said his country would move towards a “new stage” without expansion.
The US and Iran on Wednesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire in a deal brokered by Pakistan to allow negotiations, as attacks on Gulf states and the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz raised fears of a prolonged conflict whose effects will be felt long after it ends.
As part of the ceasefire, Iran agreed to allow shipping to pass through the vital waterway, amid reports that Tehran would impose tolls on ships passing through the strait to finance the country’s reconstruction efforts.
Nevertheless, Khamenei warned that Iran was prepared to respond if attacks were to end the pause in hostilities.
“Our hands are on the trigger,” he said.
However, a devastating wave of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday killed more than 300 people, threatening a US-Iran ceasefire amid disagreements over whether Beirut was part of the deal.
While Iran and Pakistan say Lebanon was part of the agreement, the US and Israel say it was not. World leaders have also called on Lebanon to be part of the agreement, urging peace in the region.
Nevertheless, Khamenei said that although they have not started the war, they “will not give up their legitimate rights under any circumstances, and in this regard, we regard the entire resistance front as a whole,” an apparent reference to Lebanon.
On Saturday, delegations from Iran and the US are expected to hold talks on ending the war in Pakistan.
