WANA (May 24) \u2013 Mohsen Rezaei warned that any military action against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a much wider regional conflict, saying Tehran may break what he described as a \u201cnaval blockade\u201d and could even withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).<\/p>\n
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Speaking about tensions with the United States, Rezaei said Washington and the administration of Donald Trump are facing a \u201ccomplete deadlock,\u201d warning that any decision to enter a war with Iran would place the U.S. inside \u201ca dark and endless corridor\u201d stretching from the Strait of Hormuz to the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, Bab al-Mandab and the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n
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He claimed the United States is simultaneously threatening military action while demanding during negotiations that Iran relinquish control over the Strait of Hormuz and hand over its enriched uranium stockpile.<\/p>\n
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Rezaei argued that Iran has \u201cstrong reasons\u201d for maintaining control over the strategic waterway, saying Tehran\u2019s objective is to prevent the Persian Gulf from becoming a center for military deployments and instability.<\/p>\n
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According to him, the Strait of Hormuz remains open to international trade, but restrictions are aimed at military activities and efforts that could fuel conflict in the region. He also claimed that during the Iran-Iraq war, as well as during what he referred to as the \u201c12-day war,\u201d large quantities of weapons and military equipment passed through the strait and were later used against Iran.<\/p>\n
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The former Revolutionary Guard commander also addressed Iran\u2019s nuclear program, stressing that Tehran remains a member of both the International Atomic Energy Agency and the NPT, and that its nuclear activities continue under international supervision.<\/p>\n
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He said inspectors from the IAEA have repeatedly visited Iranian nuclear facilities and claimed that even U.S. intelligence agencies have acknowledged there has been no diversion in Iran\u2019s nuclear activities.<\/p>\n
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Rezaei further stated that what he called Washington\u2019s \u201cexcessive demands\u201d have failed so far and will continue to fail, adding that the United States is now left with two options: military confrontation or attempting to gain leverage through negotiations.<\/p>\n
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Referring to remarks by Ruhollah Khomeini following the liberation of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war, Rezaei said Iranian officials see themselves as representatives of the Iranian people and therefore cannot surrender what they consider national rights during negotiations.<\/p>\n
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Discussing the military balance in the Persian Gulf, he argued that even if U.S. naval forces were able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, they would still remain within the operational range of Iranian military capabilities.<\/p>\n
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He added that American military commanders are fully aware of the risks involved in entering the region, describing it as a \u201cdangerous corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Rezaei warned that any military confrontation could spread beyond the Persian Gulf into the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Indian Ocean, adding that \u201cthe first to flee the scene would be the Americans themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He also said Iran has so far refrained from directly confronting what he described as a \u201cnaval blockade,\u201d but warned that Tehran could change its approach if tensions escalate further. According to Rezaei, a possible withdrawal from the NPT also remains among Iran\u2019s potential options.<\/p>\n
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He concluded by saying that despite deep tensions with Washington, Iran continues negotiations in what he described as an effort to defend the rights of the Iranian people, while warning that crossing Iran\u2019s \u201cred lines\u201d would trigger a \u201cdecisive response\u201d from Tehran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WANA (May 24) \u2013 Mohsen Rezaei warned that any military action against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[34,15886,39,101,1690],"class_list":["post-129035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-persian-gulf","tag-iran","tag-npt","tag-persian-gulf","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-the-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116630441554468914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}