The newly appointed head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary forces says the Strait of Hormuz is under Iran’s control, directly challenging the United States’ claim that its forces control the strategic waterway.
The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has led to dwindling oil reserves and rising global energy prices, as traffic through the waterway has come to a complete halt following nearly six months of war between the United States and Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that the United States controls the strait. On August 12, he told reporters that the Iranians “do not have control.”
“We have full control. It’s ours,” he said.
Hossein Taeb, the former notorious intelligence chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose return to the center of Iranian politics came last week after he was appointed head of the IRGC’s Basij Organization, rejected Trump’s statement.
“The Strait of Hormuz is under the control and management of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the country continues on its path in absolute security,” Taeb said on August 13 during a meeting with religious leaders in the holy city of Qom.
Iran has closed the key waterway, using it as a major bargaining tool in negotiations with Washington aimed at ending the war.
Although Trump initially said that eliminating Tehran’s nuclear threat was the primary objective of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which began on February 28, in recent weeks he has increasingly focused on ensuring free passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war, around 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies passed through the strategic waterway.
