Iran says military vessels in Hormuz ‘will be dealt with harshly: Live

In its latest statement following Trump’s announcement that the US would send military ships to the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp warned:

The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declares that contrary to the false claims of some enemy officials, the strait of Hormuz is under intelligent control and management, open for the harmless passage of non-military vessels in accordance with specific regulations, and any military vessels attempting to approach the strait of Hormuz under any pretext or excuse will be considered a violation of the ceasefire and will be dealt with harshly and decisively.

Hours after the US-Iran talks in Islamabad failed, President Donald Trump has warned that US forces will immediately ‘begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz’.

The US President also said in his Truth Social post: ‘I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran.

‘No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits.

‘Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL! Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country.’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has blamed the US for the collapse of peace talks after saying Washington had learnt ‘zero lessons’ from the war.

Araghchi, who holds a PhD in political thought from the University of Kent, took to social media on Sunday night to state the two sides were at one stage ‘just inches’ away from an agreement.

He claimed that Iran approached the talks in ‘good faith’ and accused the American negotiators of indulging in ‘maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade’.

‘Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity,’ Araghchi added.

Mohsen Rezaee,a former senior official in the IRGC and now a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, has claimed Tehran has ‘major untapped levers’ to counter the US’ forthcoming blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

He wrote on X:

America, just as it suffered a historic defeat against Iran in failing to open the Strait of Hormuz, is also doomed to failure in its maritime blockade.

Iran’s armed forces will not grant America such permission and possess major untapped levers for countering it. Iran is not a place to be blockaded with tweets and fanciful schemes!

In a post to X, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf – who was also the lead negotiator during the peace talks in Pakistan – mocked the US’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in a cryptic social media post.

He wrote: ‘Enjoy the current pump figures. With the so-called ‘blockade’, Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4–$5 gas.’

Ghalibaf also shared a screenshot of petrol stations around the White House, as well as a mathematical formula that appeared to signal that any increase in the severity of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would result in a compounding increase in oil prices.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said in the last few minutes that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will begin at 3pm UK time on April 13.

It said in an update shared on X that ‘all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports’ will be blocked on April 13 at 10am ET.

It added: ‘The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.’

The US army added: ‘CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.’

Experts have warned that American lives are at risk if Donald Trump follows through with his vow to send US Navy ships into the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump announced the move via Truth Social on Sunday, saying the naval assets would ‘begin the process of blockading any all ships trying to enter’ the Strait.

The president claimed that the threat posed by the Iranian Navy is ‘gone’ from the key waterway thanks to the US military assault on the nation since February 28.

However, experts have warned that though much of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ large battleships have been destroyed, the smaller boats that control the Strait are still intact.

This means the US servicemen sent to the narrow waterway – which is only about 35 kilometers wide – will be sitting ducks for attacks by the IRGC.

The head of Iran’s navy has tonight called Trump’s threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz ‘ridiculous.’

Shahram Irani said, according to Iranian state TV: ‘The brave men of the naval force of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran are monitoring and supervising all the movements of the aggressive American army in the region.

‘The threats of the US president to blockade Iran at sea … are very ridiculous and funny.’

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and the lead representative of his nation’s delegation to peace talks, said Tehran will ‘not bow to any threats.’

Following Donald Trump’s vow to send US military ships to the Strait of Hormuz after talks in Pakistan over the weekend failed, Qalibaf said: ‘If you fight, we will fight, and if you come forward with logic, we will deal with logic.

‘We will not bow to any threats, let them test our will once again so that we can teach them a bigger lesson.’