Trump claims Iran’s President asked for ceasefire, IRGC says Hormuz under its Naval control

US President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that President of Iran’s ‘new regime’ has just asked the United States for a ceasefire but said the US will consider it (the request) only when the Strait of Hormuz is open, free and clear. Trump warned that until the ‘ceasefire request’ is accepted, the US will be ‘blasting Iran into oblivion and back to stone ages.’

There was no immediate comment from Iran on Trump’s claim.

Trump’s claim coincided with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s expression of Tehran’s ‘firm and enduring support’ for resistance against US and Israel.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also announced that the Strait of Hormuz is firmly under its naval control, while detailing a series of missile and drone operations against US and Israeli targets across the region.

The IRGC said in a statement on Wednesday that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is decisively and fully under the control of its naval forces, Iran’s Tasnim News agency said.

Iran has consistently denied having any talks with the US and has rejected Trump’s 15-point plan for peace.

Without naming the ‘new regime President,’ Trump described him as ‘much less radicalised and far more intelligent than his predecessors.’

‘Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE! We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages,’ Trump said on his social media platform.

Mojtaba Khamenei, in a message to Sheikh Naim Qassem, Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah, said the history of Islamic resistance has been marked by struggle, courage, and a spirit of martyrdom.

The IRGC said in a statement that the intensity of Iran’s missile strikes toward central Israeli areas and various parts of the Middle East since early morning contradicts claims by Tel Aviv and Washington that such attacks have decreased by 90 per cent, ‘a narrative’ it said, has been repeatedly promoted by US and Israel.

The IRGC said its naval forces, since dawn on April 1, have carried out five large-scale and extensive operations as part of the 89th wave of Operation True Promise 4, using a combination of Qadeer ballistic and cruise missiles as well as attack drones to destroy key military targets belonging to US and Israeli forces.