Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said on Saturday that Iran will not allow United States military vessels to enter the Persian Gulf "under any circumstances and at any time", according to Iranian state media reports carried by the Associated Press and AFP.
Source: Associated Press
"The US president must dream of seeing the armed forces enter the Persian Gulf. He will take that dream to his grave," Abdollahi said, according to Iranian state television, in remarks reported by AFP. He said Iranian forces had rendered the US Navy unable to approach waters around the Persian Gulf or Iran's territorial waters.
Source: AFP via Energy Tribune
The remarks came amid mounting threats of renewed attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel. AFP reported that US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack had said Washington could "absolutely" strike Iran as soon as this weekend.
Iranian forces have restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Gulf, since the war with the United States began on February 28, and Washington has imposed a counterblockade on Iranian ports and vessels, AFP reported. Tehran has required ships to seek permission to transit the strait. In peacetime, about one-fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies passed through Hormuz — which is why any Gulf escalation matters directly to Indian and Punjabi workers, airlines and families across the region.
The Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that two supertankers carrying more than 4.5 million barrels of crude oil combined had been abandoned at sea after hitting mines in the waterway, according to AFP. That is an Iranian Guards claim reported by the wire; it has not been independently confirmed in the reports cited here.
Abdollahi also questioned US President Donald Trump's repeated claims that Iran's nuclear facilities had been destroyed, asking why Washington kept raising the programme if everything had already been eliminated, Press TV reported. Washington and Tehran's foreign ministry did not comment on the latest remarks in the reports cited here.