War preparations under way in Iran as Hormuz tensions with US escalate
Amid stalled talks and sparring over key waterway, Iranian media say US warship struck, but Washington denies incident.
Iran says it fired missiles at US warship to prevent it entering Hormuz
Tehran, Iran – Iranian media say a United States warship trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz has been hit with two missiles after ignoring warnings.
The unnamed warship had to withdraw from near the Iranian port of Jask on Monday and “flee”, according to the Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The US military, in a social media statement, denied that one of its vessels had been struck.
The report by Fars came hours after the head of Iran’s joint military command warned US forces they would be attacked if they entered the Strait of Hormuz.
Major General Ali Abdollahi said in a statement that armed forces under his command will “maintain and manage security of the Strait of Hormuz with all strength” in response to US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Sunday that the US would “guide” vessels stranded by the US-Israeli war on Iran through the key waterway.
The latest tensions come as Iranian authorities mobilise supporters to prepare for a potentially lengthy conflict as they continue to exchange proposals with the US amid efforts to end the war that began on February 28 through negotiations.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday confirmed that Tehran was reviewing the latest text from Washington relayed through Pakistan but urged a more “realistic” approach from Trump.
Authorities in Tehran will speak about “nothing except for the full end to the war at this stage”, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters.
Campaign to ‘sacrifice’
Nearly one month after a ceasefire delivered a suspension in large-scale fighting, Iranian authorities are trying to reconstitute their missile and drone capabilities in case the war restarts, including by digging up bombed entrances to underground bases housing munitions and equipment.
Now in its 10th week, or more than 1,550 hours, a near-total internet shutdown affecting more than 90 million Iranians continues to be imposed by the government due to “security considerations”. Authorities have said the measures will remain in place until the end of the war.
Meanwhile, armed, state-backed motorcades continue to roam the streets of Tehran and other cities at night, and government supporters hold demonstrations in major city squares and intersections where they often play religious chants from loudspeakers and wave flags while guarded by armoured vehicles.
The Iranian authorities’ main public campaign to keep the war narrative active on the domestic front is called “Jan Fadaa”, which means a person who is prepared to “sacrifice” his or her life for the cause.
Volunteers can register through a state-run website, using only a phone number. No national identification number or personal registration is required at the moment.
A text message attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last month called the campaign “one of the key impactful elements in negotiations with the enemy”.
The president, speaker of parliament and a large number of other officials have exalted the initiative, saying they were “proud” to be representing its members. Judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei called it “historic”.
State media have aired numerous interviews with people participating in the campaign, who said they were prepared to give up their lives if necessary.
“I will be in the field with my family as long as required,” one man accompanied by family members told the IRGC-affiliated Mehr News Agency, expressing preparedness “to fight to the death”.
Jan Fadaa says it has more than 31 million active members, which represents just over a third of Iran’s population, or more than half of the over-12 population. The authorities, however, have not released any documentation to support the claim, which comes months after thousands of people were killed in nationwide protests in January.
The campaign has been subject to criticism from foreign-based Iranians opposed to the government, some of whom have claimed that the real registration numbers are far lower.
Ali Sharifi Zarchi, a former professor-turned-dissident, said last week that design flaws in the campaign’s website left backend lines of code exposed that showed fewer than four million people had registered.
He and others corroborating the data also looked at the progression of registrations in the campaign, using information released from top state-media outlets.
They found that no specific time period or major event, including the start of the ceasefire on April 8, had any meaningful impact on the registration numbers being updated on the website. There were no ebbs and flows as seen in similar public campaigns, which the critics said suggested the numbers were being generated artificially.
In the aftermath of the criticism, the campaign has started reporting far fewer new registrations.
This week, Iranian authorities designated a spokesman for the campaign, Sasan Zare, who held a news conference to reject all allegations and attacked Sharifi Zarchi for “lending his platform to the enemies of the people”.
The spokesman said more than 60 percent of those registered are women and a “majority” are between 20 and 45 years old.
He also said the campaign is to exit its current “symbolic” status and will soon call on people registered to engage in activities designated by the state, which will be announced later.