Iran's Ghalibaf says US military's "nightmare" of being hunted is reality
The remark follows weeks of rising tension in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran's navy has already fired on shipping.
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Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
Iran's Ghalibaf said the "nightmare" of the US military being hunted has become reality, sharpening the rhetoric coming out of Tehran as tension over the Strait of Hormuz continues.
The statement follows a string of incidents in the strait. Iran's IRGC Navy fired at least five cruise missiles at ships passing through the waterway, and separately said it struck a Togo-flagged tanker, the Trend, which caught fire and stopped mid-crossing. The IRGC has warned that unauthorized ships will be destroyed. Sullivan has said only four ships crossed the strait in a single day despite the cost of keeping it open.
Trump has said he will decide on military action against Iran while still pursuing negotiation channels with both Iran and the Houthis. He has also said Iran wants a deal but is not yet ready for one. Separately, Netanyahu used his campaign launch to say Israel must topple the Iranian regime.
Ghalibaf's language adds to the rhetoric already priced into energy markets, but it does not point to any new concrete threat. Set against Trump's stated openness to negotiate and his own acknowledgment of what it costs to keep the strait open, the comment reads as aimed at an audience inside Iran rather than as a signal of imminent action, leaving the standoff in the same holding pattern of high tension and constrained oil supply it has been in.