Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Deputy Head of the Iranian National Security Committee, addressing the parliament, today said that Iran “will never relinquish its control over the Strait of Hormuz,” in response to US threats.
In remarks carried over by state media, Boroujerdi claimed Iran still had a sufficient stockpile of missiles and drones to carry on the war, and can sustain it for several more years, noting that Washington and other Western countries had now finally “come to believe in the capabilities of the Islamic Republic,” after witnessing Iran’s surprising resilience.
The lawmaker said that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was managing Tehran’s negotiations with Washington, which so far have been facilitated indirectly, via mediator states like Egypt and Pakistan, since the first round of talks ended in failure in early April.
Since the April talks, Iran has maintained a strong blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial water corridor for global energy flows, only permitting a select few vessels to transit the waterway with coordination — and reportedly charging massive tolls, holding oil and gas flows to ransom. The US, in response, has imposed a military blockade of all Iranian ports and vessels linked to the country, which Tehran has criticised as “piracy”.
Boroujerdi dismissed the US blockade as ‘ineffective’, calling it “a passive and worthless move” and claiming that Washington would “not dare act” against some vessels “because they belong to other countries, such as China and others that the United States does not dare confront.”
The Pentagon said that, as of Tuesday, it had forced 39 vessels attempting to enter or depart from Iranian ports to turn around since the blockade began.
