A military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned on Wednesday that Tehran would target and sink US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz if Washington tried to “police” the strategic waterway. This comes as the US prepares to enforce a military blockade of the strait.
“We would take thousands of hostages”
“Mr. Trump wants to police the Strait of Hormuz. Is this really your job? Is it the job of a powerful military like the US?” Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, whom Khamenei appointed as a military adviser last month, told state television, AFP reported.
Rezaei, long considered a hardliner even within the Revolutionary Guards, headed the Revolutionary Guards from 1981 to 1997.
“These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them,” Rezaei noted.
Rezaei also said it would be “great” if the United States launched a ground invasion of Iran because “we would take thousands of hostages and then we would get a billion dollars for each hostage.”
Without elaborating further, he also added: “I am not at all in favor of extending the ceasefire and it is a personal opinion.
Tensions between Iran and the US remain particularly high over the Hormuz, a critical oil and gas waterway that has been effectively closed since the war began nearly seven weeks ago. The US set up a naval blockade to cut off Iranian supplies and said on Wednesday that 10 vessels had been forced to turn away. Tehran keeps the strait closed to most other traffic.
The gridlock has reduced transit to a minimum, exacerbating an energy supply crisis that threatens to deal a major blow to the world economy.
Fighting between the US and Iran has been suspended since around April 8, shortly after President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire the previous evening. The opening round of peace talks took place in Pakistan last weekend, although participants including US Vice President JD Vance left without an agreement.
(With input from agencies)
