The leaders of Iran, Israel and the United States have all voiced defiance and vowed to fight on as the Middle East war approached the two-week mark, 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, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and calling on neighbouring countries to close US 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…