Iran Says US Warships Retreat 400 Kilometres From Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says US warships have moved at least 400 kilometres away from the Strait of Hormuz following heavy losses and mounting pressure on American forces in the region.

IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said the United States had lost the ability to maintain a long-term military presence in the Middle East, citing logistical difficulties, declining troop morale and damage sustained by American naval assets. Iranian reports quoted Mohebbi as saying all US warships had moved at least 400 kilometres away from the Strait.

He said that before the start of the so-called Ramadan war, around 30 to 40 US warships and naval vessels were present inside the Persian Gulf. According to Mohebbi, there are now no American warships remaining in that area.

Mohebbi said Iranian military capabilities now extend far beyond the country’s immediate coastline.

He said Iranian forces had recently demonstrated the ability to strike targets hundreds of kilometres away, referring to an American aircraft carrier that he said was successfully targeted at a distance of around 500 kilometres.

The IRGC spokesman presented the reported withdrawal of US naval forces as evidence of what he described as Iran’s growing ability to monitor and deter American military activity around the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

Mohebbi also referred to the recent interception and capture of a US unmanned underwater vehicle near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian authorities have presented the incident as another demonstration of the country’s surveillance capabilities and ability to detect sophisticated American underwater systems operating near the strategic waterway.

The United States has disputed Iran’s description of the incident, saying the recovered system was a Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle that had malfunctioned before it was recovered.

Mohebbi described the Strait of Hormuz as a central source of Iranian strategic power and said Tehran would continue using its capabilities around the waterway to deter attacks.

He said Iran’s control and management of the strategic passage had become an established reality and that vessels would not be able to transit without taking Iranian security arrangements into account.

Iran has also said that if Washington accepts Tehran’s conditions and returns to the existing understanding between the two sides, arrangements could be made to reopen the waterway.

The Iranian statements come amid continuing military tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for international energy shipments.

The reported withdrawal of US warships, if independently confirmed, would represent a significant development in the military balance around the waterway. The 400-kilometre figure and the reported absence of US warships inside the Persian Gulf remain Iranian military assertions and have not been independently verified.