A senior Iranian military official has declared that the Strait of Hormuz is entirely under Tehran’s command, sharply pushing back against recent statements by U.S. President Donald Trump asserting American dominance over the strategic waterway. Hojjatoleslam Hossein Taeb, commander of the Basij Organisation, said on Thursday that the strait is “under Iran’s control and management” and that the country continues to advance in complete security, according to remarks carried by the semi-official Fars news agency.
Taeb added that “the Americans saw the power of the Islamic revolution,” in an apparent response to Trump’s post on his Truth Social platform claiming the United States had “total control” of the waterway. The exchange underscores the heightened standoff between the two countries over the strait, a vital artery for global energy shipments.
Iran has effectively shut the strait since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, blocking a passage through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas had previously flowed. In response, Washington imposed a naval blockade on Iranian shipping and ports while vowing to protect freedom of navigation for vessels traveling to and from non-Iranian ports.
On Thursday, Iran’s joint military command, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said no vessel can transit the Strait of Hormuz without Tehran’s permission, dismissing U.S. assertions of normal passage as “lies and falsehoods.” Senior military political official Rasoul Sanaei-Rad said Iran would not reopen the strait unless Washington fulfills its commitments under the interim deal aimed at ending the war, adding that reopening is not something the U.S. can achieve unilaterally. He also warned that Iran would respond more aggressively in any future conflict, saying, “In a possible future war, we will stand more firmly and more offensively.”
The interim agreement, reached in June, had extended a ceasefire that took effect in April and called for a swift restoration of navigation in the Gulf. The deal unraveled weeks later after Iran resumed limited attacks on vessels it said were violating the terms, prompting the U.S. to restart airstrikes on Iran’s southern provinces.
Michael Stephens, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said Iran appears to believe the economic pressure no longer poses an existential threat to its government. “That existential threat is gone,” he told Al Jazeera. “So they want to up the tempo and maybe make the pain a little bit more acute for President Trump. And the best way to do that is to drag this out.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoed that defiance, writing on X that Washington’s actions in the strait were “an even bigger miscalculation,” adding, “Worse than fake news is fake intelligence.”