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... In a statement read by a state television anchor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf is "at the bottom of its waters" and that a "new chapter" was being written in the region's history. Khamenei has not been seen in public since taking over as supreme leader following the killing of his father in the war's opening airstrikes.

His remarks come as Iran's economy is reeling and its oil industry is being squeezed by a U.S. Navy blockade halting its tankers from getting out to sea.

The world economy is also under pressure as Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all crude oil is transported.

On Thursday, the global benchmark for oil, Brent crude, traded as high as $126 a barrel. ...