Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Sunday they have set a deadline for the U.S. military to end its blockade of Iranian ports, warning of serious consequences if the demand is not met.
The IRGC intelligence unit stated that “the room for US decision-making has narrowed.”
In a statement posted on social media platform X, the IRGC warned President Donald Trump that he must choose between a disastrous military operation or a “bad deal” with Iran, describing the US options as untenable.
There is only one way to read this,” the post declared, “Trump must choose between an impossible military operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
These comments follow Iran’s recent move to send a 14-point plan to the US, outlining key proposals for an end to the conflict. Among the conditions, Iran called for guarantees of non-aggression from the US, the lifting of the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to the war in the Middle East, including in Lebanon.
While President Trump has stated that he intends to “soon review the plan Iran has just sent to us,” he remains skeptical about the possibility of striking a deal, adding that he doesn’t believe a resolution will be easily reached. This stance highlights the ongoing diplomatic gridlock between Washington and Tehran.
In a separate statement, Mohsen Rezaee, the former IRGC commander and secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, likened US forces blockading the Strait of Hormuz to “pirates.”
Rezaee also threatened to turn the waterway into “a graveyard” of US aircraft carriers and troops. He warned that the US navy could soon face catastrophic losses in the waterway, one of the world’s most crucial shipping lanes.
“The US is the only pirate in the world that possesses aircraft carriers,” Rezaee said in a post on X. Our ability to confront pirates is no less than our ability to sink warships.”
Rezaee warned the US to prepare for its carriers and forces to become “a graveyard,” invoking the memory of the wreckage of a US F-15E fighter jet that was downed in Isfahan the previous month.
Iran’s latest warnings for the US to lift its port blockade suggest that both sides are bracing for further confrontations in what has become a protracted and volatile standoff.