DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has named Ayotollah Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s late supreme leader, to succeed him as the Islamic Republic’s next ruler. Monday’s announcement puts a hard-line cleric in charge as the war spreading across the Mideast has sent oil prices skyrocketing. Iran has been launching new attacks on regional energy infrastructure, prompting sharp warnings from Saudi Arabia. A stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has all but stopped tankers from using the shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman through which a fifth of the world’s oil is carried. Brent crude oil, the international standard, hit prices up some 65% from when Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
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