Iran will not allow ‘rusty’ US military vessels to re-enter Persian Gulf: Top commander
Iran will never allow US military vessels to enter the Persian Gulf, the country’s top military commander has warned, saying US naval forces are no longer capable of approaching the waters surrounding the strategic waterway.
Major General Ali Abdollahi, Chief of the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, made the remarks while pointing to successive US military defeats in West Asia.
He said Iran’s Armed Forces have rendered the US Navy ineffective, despite Washington’s portrayal of the force as a symbol of American power and its use to threaten countries in the region and beyond.
“The US president must only dream of their military and army entering the Persian Gulf again. They will take this wish to their graves,” Abdollahi said.
“We will under no circumstances and at no time allow rusty US military vessels to enter the Persian Gulf,” he added.
The senior commander also questioned US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed, while Washington continued to insist that Tehran must not possess nuclear weapons — a claim repeatedly rejected by the Islamic Republic.
“If you have destroyed everything, then what is the meaning of repeating this delusion?” Abdollahi said, describing the statements as meaningless and contradictory.
He argued that they were intended to mislead public opinion worldwide, particularly in the United States.
He also challenged Washington’s assertions that Iran’s military capabilities have been eliminated, asking why US warships and military forces have not dared to approach the Strait of Hormuz or Iran’s maritime and land borders.
Abdollahi said Iran’s leadership, people, armed forces, and officials are determined to push the United States and Israel deeper into a quagmire of their own making.
Iran’s strategy, he went on, is to ensure that the longer the confrontation continues, the deeper its enemies would sink into “a quagmire of death and decline.”
The US and the Israeli regime waged their first criminal war against Iran, which lasted 12 days, in June 2025. Their second aggression began on February 28, 2026, and came to a halt in early April after 40 days.
In both wars, Iran’s resistance and successful retaliatory operations forced the aggressors to accept a ceasefire.
Iran has also maintained a tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz since the early days of the second imposed war.
In July, the US conducted waves of deadly air raids on Iran and imposed a naval blockade of the country in violation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Republic, signed on June 17, to end the war.
In response, the Iranian Armed Forces launched devastating strikes against strategic American targets across West Asia and declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all traffic.
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