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Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters on Thursday dismissed U.S. claims of full control over the Strait of Hormuz as "baseless lies," saying the strategic waterway remains under Tehran's control and that no commercial vessel or oil tanker can transit it safely without Iranian authorization.
"The false US claims regarding the normal passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which reflect the helplessness and confusion of that country's military, are nothing but falsehoods and baseless lies," the military command said in a statement carried by Iranian state broadcaster Tasnim News Agency.
"The Strait of Hormuz, as before, remains under the full management and control of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the command's spokesperson said.
"No commercial vessel or oil tanker can or will be able to transit the strait safely without the authorization and supervision of Iran's powerful armed forces," the official added.
The spokesperson said American military and political leaders have long tested the resolve of the Iranian people and what the statement called the "brave children of the nation" within Iran's armed forces.
"America continually seeks mischief and insecurity in the region, and that country's unsupported and baseless threats will bring it nothing but greater helplessness and confusion in the face of the comprehensive, ever-strengthening preparedness of the heroic fighters of Islam within the armed forces," the spokesperson said.
The statement said Iran would respond to any threat, of any kind or level, "more crushingly and severely than before."
The statement came after U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States has "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz, calling the U.S. naval blockade "a wall of steel" and saying "there is nothing Iran can do about it."
Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority had separately rejected that characterization earlier in the week, saying the strait "remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran's conditions are accepted."
Thursday's statement from Khatam al-Anbiya, the umbrella command overseeing Iran's armed forces, adds a direct military voice to a series of Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Basij commander Hossein Taeb, who have rejected U.S. claims of control over the waterway in recent days.
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