Iranian Supreme Leader’s military advisor threatens to sink US ships in the Strait of Hormuz
“These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them,” he said.
A senior military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, on Wednesday April 15, 2026, warned that Tehran would sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz if Washington attempts to police the Strait, a vital global shipping route.
Mohsen Rezaei, speaking on state television Wednesday April 16, 2026, criticized reported U.S. plans to “police” the narrow waterway amid an ongoing regional conflict.
The remarks come as tensions remain high despite a fragile two-week ceasefire following more than six weeks of fighting.
The United States has moved to enforce what officials describe as a military blockade of the Strait after Iran disrupted shipping during the conflict.
Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, also took a hardline stance on the ceasefire, saying he personally opposes any extension. He added that a potential U.S. ground invasion would be met with severe retaliation, including the taking of hostages.
“Mr Trump wants to become the police of the Strait of Hormuz. Is this really your job? Is this the job of a powerful army like the US?” Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month, told state TV.
“These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them,” he said.
Long regarded as a hardliner even within the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, Rezaei said it would be “great” if the United States launched a ground invasion of Iran as “we would take thousands of hostages and then for each hostage we would get a billion dollars.”
He also added, without giving further details: “I am not in favor of extending the ceasefire at all and this is a personal view.”
Also on Wednesday, the US announced it is tightening sanctions against Iran’s oil industry as Tehran keeps up its closure of the Strait of Hormuz as part of the Mideast war. The new punishment targets oil transport infrastructure by slapping sanctions on more than two dozen people, companies and ships that operate within the network of petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the Treasury Department said.
“Treasury is moving aggressively with ‘Economic Fury’ by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, alluding to a financial pressure campaign against Iran.
Shamkhani is the son of security official Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, both of whom were killed February 28, the first day of US-Israeli attacks and the start of the Middle East war.
“The United States is acting to decisively limit Iran’s ability to generate revenue as it attempts to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage,” the State Department said in a separate communique.
The United States alleges that the Shamkhani network, which operates in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, dodges sanctions through a group of seemingly legitimate consulting and shipping companies that run the network’s fleet.
