Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesperson disputes Trump’s claims on nuclear programme and Hormuz

Tehran, Iran. Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi on Tuesday called US President Donald Trump a “big liar”, accusing him of concealing the truth from Americans about Iran’s nuclear programme and the effectiveness of its blockade of Gulf energy supplies.

Nuclear programme

Trump has cited the need to ensure Iran can never build a nuclear weapon as one of his reasons for waging war on the country.

“The enemy (US) knows that Iran is not after nuclear weapons,” Mohebbi said. “Their issue with Iran is not its nuclear programme but rather its vastness, which they want to destroy.”

Strait of Hormuz

Mohebbi also challenged US assertions that Iran has lost most of its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, partly because the US military has protected some tankers carrying oil out of the Gulf.

“The fact that the Americans might manage, at great expense, considerable trouble, and high risk to sneak a small vessel through the Strait of Hormuz under cover of darkness to export, say, 100 or 200 barrels of oil does not mean the Strait is open,” he said.

Kpler data shows oil exports through the strait recovering in September and on course to reach almost 10 million barrels per day, about half their pre-war volume.