Speaking to the national broadcaster late Thursday, Mohsen Rezaei, also a member of the Expediency Council, laid out a detailed indictment of a pattern of American betrayal of diplomacy — now in its third iteration.
"The first betrayal came during the 12-day war and the second during the Ramadan war," he said, referring to unprovoked wars that the US and the Israeli regime imposed on Iran in June 2025 and February, both of which came amid indirect talks between Tehran and Washington.
The third, he said, was the most brazen: one day before a two-week ceasefire was set to expire, the United States imposed a naval blockade. "That is a declaration of war," Rezaei said. "It is a betrayal of diplomacy."
Washington has maintained the illegal blockade of Iranian vessels and ports since US President Donald Trump announced its continuation in mid-April, in a violation of the terms of the ceasefire brokered in the Pakistani capital.
America, Rezaei said, had also failed to honor its commitments in the Lebanon front — adding another breach to a growing list.
The general implied that the door on talks has not been slammed. He pointed, instead, to the structural dishonesty poisoning negotiations. Washington claims it will lift the blockade if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened yet the strait, he noted, remains open to commerce today.
"So why aren't they lifting the blockade now?" he asked.
As a further confidence-building measure, he said the US must release at least $24 billion in frozen Iranian funds.
"The Hormuz Strait is a powerful arm of deterrence for us," he said. "The enemy must either come to its senses with a hard slap, or it must wisely accept Iran's conditions."
Iran on Wednesday announced retaliatory strikes on an enemy vessel, the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and a regional American airbase after US attacks on an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and a telecommunications tower on the Persian Gulf island of Qeshm.
MNA
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