Iran: “If the US leaves the region, the Strait of Hormuz will open” – “If they don’t leave, we will drive them out”

Iran has set the withdrawal of American forces from the region as the condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. “If the US leaves the region, the Strait of Hormuz will open,” Iranian Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia said on Friday, October 16, in an interview with the Iranian news agency Fars. It is the clearest statement of Iran’s terms for the Strait from the military leadership in Tehran in recent weeks.

In that case, he added, “collective security will be established with the participation of the states of the region and the global economy will improve.” And he warned: “If they don’t leave, then we will drive them out.”

In the same interview, as relayed by Press TV, Akraminia claimed that Iran’s armed forces have “new operational plans” that will force US warships to move even further away in the coming days. He claimed that American ships have been “forced to stay more than 500 kilometres from Iran’s coast” and that there are currently no US warships in the Sea of Oman. These claims have not been confirmed by an independent source. He called on the states of the region to create a “joint mechanism to facilitate the withdrawal of American forces”, saying that “lasting peace, calm and stability can be achieved only with the end of the American presence and interference in the region.”

The spokesman also addressed air defence, which was badly hit in the war. “Today we have significantly strengthened the country’s air-defence capabilities in equipment and operational tactics,” he said, speaking of repairs and upgrades. According to Press TV, Tehran ties any reopening of the Strait to an end to American “military aggression”, the lifting of the naval blockade and recognition of Iran’s “sovereign rights”. The US blockade of Iranian ports has been in force since July 14, while Tehran is also promoting a temporary shipping corridor through Iranian waters that was agreed with Oman.

Washington: “It ends whenever I want”

On the Washington side, Donald Trump said on Thursday at a rally in Montana that the war would end “very soon” and that “it will end whenever I want it to end”. Only hours earlier he had threatened to hit Pickaxe Mountain.

The ceasefire that stopped the war after 40 days was formalised in June with the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, but negotiations on a final agreement have stalled, with the speaker of Iran’s parliament speaking of preparing for war and negotiation at the same time.