empire"  was more important than crude prices. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in an air strike, has  yet to appear publicly since his nomination last Sunday as supreme leader, and his defiant message was read by a newscaster on state television. Khamenei, whose father Ali Khamenei was killed in the first wave of US-Israeli attacks at the start of the Middle East war, called for the Strait of Hormuz to remain blocked and for Gulf countries to close their US military bases. "The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used,"  Khamenei said of the waterway through which a quarter of world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit. He added that "a limited amount of" Iran's revenge for US and Israeli strikes had "taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities." Iran launched a new wave of attacks against Gulf energy targets on Thursday that sent prices oil spiking briefly above $100 a barrel and led to a warning that the crisis could lead to "the largest supply disruption" in history. But Trump dismissed growing concerns, writing on social media that "of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World." (Bssnews)