IRGC vows ‘most severe blows to enemy’ while keeping Strait of Hormuz closed

ISTANBUL

The navy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that Tehran would deliver the “most severe blows to its enemies” while maintaining its strategy of keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed.

In a statement on the US social media company X, Alireza Tangsiri said the move comes “in response to the Commander-in-Chief’s (Mojtaba Khamenai) orders,”and that Iranian forces would continue implementing the strategy of keeping the key Gulf waterway shut and “inflict the most severe blows on the aggressor enemy.”

Earlier, Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in his first public remarks that the strait must remain closed, which was blocked in retaliation to the US-Israeli strikes that began on Feb. 28.

The joint attack by the US and Israel continues and has so far killed over 1,300 people, including Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader, and injured over 10,000 others. Up to 3.2 million Iranians have also been temporarily displaced, according to the UN relief agency UNHCR.

Tehran retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.

Mojtaba was chosen as the successor to his father, Ali Khamenei, earlier this week.