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Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei has said Tehran will keep the Strait of Hormuz open if the United States stops threatening or attacking Iran.
In an interview with Iranian state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Sunday, Rezaei said Iran's position on the strategic waterway was directly linked to Washington's military posture towards Tehran. Iran will commit to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open when the US neither threatens nor attacks Iran, Rezaei told IRIB. Rezaei also stated that Iran plans for a new restricted maritime area outside the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days, potentially extending restrictions into parts of the Persian Gulf. This area starts from the US naval blockade line to include areas of the Persian Gulf, he said. The Iranian security chief warned that ships entering the newly designated zone would face sanctions. Any ship entering this new area will be placed on the sanctions list, Rezaei said. The comments come amid heightened tensions over the status of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important waterway for global energy trade amid the West Asia conflict. Rezaei also claimed that Iranian forces had identified several American military targets but had deliberately refrained from striking some of them, including the Titan base in Jordan and US bases in Erbil, amid renewed exchange of fire between the two sides in the region after weeks of no hostilities. Iran had identified some American targets but did not intentionally strike them, such as their Titan base in Jordan and some of their bases in Erbil, he said. According to the Iranian security chief, Tehran's earlier military actions amid the conflict against US positions contributed to a shift in Washington's approach to the conflict. Rezaei also spoke about the situation in Lebanon and Hezbollah's role in the country's conflict, particularly in the south, with Israel, saying military confrontations should not be assessed solely through a series of wins and losses. In no war does victory after victory and defeat after defeat make sense; wars have ups and downs, he said. He further asserted that Hezbollah had maintained the upper hand throughout the conflict despite facing sustained military pressure from Israeli forces. The upper hand has always been with Lebanon's Hezbollah, Rezaei said. Rezaei's remarks indicate that Tehran is linking the future status of the waterway to the absence of US military threats or attacks while simultaneously warning of additional restrictions on vessels operating in areas that Iran may designate as restricted. (ANI)
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