now
08.36 BST
Military
adviser to Iran supreme leader threatens to sink US ships
The
military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned that Tehran would sink
American ships in the strait of Hormuz if the US decided to “police” the narrow
waterway.
Mohsen
Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) who was named as a military adviser by Mojtaba Khamenei last month, also
threatened to take American soldiers hostage if they came ashore and “demand
one billion dollars for each captive”.
“[Donald]
Trump wants to become the police of the strait of Hormuz, but we will under no
circumstances back down from our ten conditions in the short negotiations over
a maritime blockade,” he told state tv, according to the semi-official Tasnim
news agency.
“Extending
the ceasefire is not in our favour at all; this is my personal opinion. The
pressures must be intensified, Our launchers are now locked onto the ships and
we will sink them all.
“A
ceasefire will only have meaning when all our agreements and rights have been
met and a statement has been submitted to the security council [of Iran].”
The US
blockade of ships using Iranian ports in the Gulf came into effect on Monday
evening as a counter to Iran’s near-total closure of the strait of Hormuz since
the start of the war. The US Central Command (Centcom) said it stopped 10
vessels from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of the
blockade, but ship tracking data indicated at least three ships sailing from
Iranian ports crossed the strait of Hormuz, though some vessels later turned
back.
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