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 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 not clear why he did not appear in person.

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