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TEHRAN – Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in his latest written message that the Islamic republic did not want war with the US and Israel, but would protect its rights as a nation, state television reported on April 9.

“We did not seek war and we do not want it,” he said in the message read out on state TV, weeks after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed on Feb 28, the first day of the war.

“But we will not renounce our legitimate rights under any circumstances, and in this respect, we consider the entire resistance front as a whole,” he added, in an apparent reference to Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Tehran’s ally Hezbollah.

Iran agreed this week to a fragile two-week ceasefire with the US that could lead to peace negotiations after threats of annihilation from US President Donald Trump.

Mr Khamenei told Iranians that they must “not imagine that taking to the streets is no longer necessary”, despite the announcement of the ceasefire.

“Your voices in public squares are undoubtedly influential in the outcome of the negotiations,” he said, according to the message broadcast on state TV.

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Likely wounded in the strike that killed his father, Mr Mojtaba Khamenei has still not been seen in public since his leadership appointment.

He has issued written declarations, most of them read out by presenters on state television.

Mr Trump has even speculated that he could be dead, but Iran state television says he is recovering from his injuries and posts photos of him, without specifying when they were taken. AFP

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Two Japanese crude tankers are heading east along the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz, adding to a growing number of vessels gathered at the entrance to the waterway during a US-Iran ceasefire, even as US President Donald Trump ramps up criticism and traffic remains limited.

The Mayasan and Yakumosan, both very-large carriers each hauling around two million barrels of crude, began sailing east late on April 9 from waters off Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia, where they have been since mid-March. The Sea Condor, a Greek-flagged products tanker that loaded in Kuwait, was also moving east in the direction of Hormuz.