[Source: Reuters]

The leaders of Iran, Israel and the United ​States all voiced defiance and vowed to fight on as the Middle East war approached the two-week mark on Friday, killing thousands of people, disrupting the lives of millions of others and ‌shaking financial markets.

New Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first comments, read out by a television presenter on Thursday, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and calling on neighboring countries to close U.S. bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.

“I assure everyone that we will not neglect avenging the blood of your martyrs,” said the hardline cleric, who is close to Iran’s top military force.

It was not clear why he did not appear in person.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first news conference since the ​U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran started on February 28, taking questions via video-link and issuing a veiled threat to kill Khamenei and defending the military assault.

“I will not detail the actions we are taking. We ​are creating the optimal conditions for toppling the regime but I won’t deny that I can’t tell you with all certainty that the people of Iran will topple ⁠the regime – a regime is toppled from the inside,” Netanyahu said.

“But we can definitely help and we are helping.”

The prospect that one of the most severe disruptions ever to global energy supplies could endure sent oil prices up about 9% to $100 ​a barrel on Thursday, helping drive down U.S. stocks.

The S&P 500 notched up its biggest three-day percentage drop in a month, and shares in Asia were also under pressure on Friday.

In an effort to stabilize global energy markets, the U.S. on ​Thursday issued a 30-day license for countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea.

“The temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary disruption that will result in a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long-term,” Bessent said in the statement, echoing earlier comments from President Donald Trump.

U.S. POLITICAL FALLOUT

Trump, who has already declared that the U.S. and Israel won the war, said the United States stood to make significant money from oil prices driven higher because of supply issues tied to ​the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil normally passes.

Drones have been reported flying into Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman, undermining U.S. and Israeli claims to have knocked out much of Iran’s stock ​of long-range weapons.

In Iraq, U.S. Central Command said it ​was carrying out rescue efforts after one of its refueling ⁠aircraft went down in an incident that involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said one soldier had died and several were wounded during an attack in northern Iraq, hours after an Italian ​base was also targeted in the area.

Two tankers were set ablaze in the Iraqi port of Basra earlier this week after being hit by suspected Iranian explosive-laden boats and ​other ships have been struck in ⁠the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz

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