Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26
Trend:
A senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says that the Red Sea will not be safe for the US navy.
Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC’s Qods Force, a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military operations, said the Red Sea, which was safe previously, is no longer safe for the Americans today, Tasnim news agency reported July 26.
The Qods force is capable to combat the US military, Soleimani said, adding that the US may start a war but it will not be the party that could end it.
“You can start a war, but we are the side to end it,” he said.
He further advised the US President Donald Trump not to threaten the Islamic Republic.
Yesterday, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement attacked two Saudi Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) in the Red Sea, one of which sustained minimal damage.
The top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said on July 26 that it was “temporarily halting” all oil shipments through the strategic Red Sea shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb after the attack.
Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis in a three-year war, lies beside the southern mouth of the Red Sea, one of the most important trade routes in the world for oil tankers. The tankers pass near Yemen’s shores while heading from the Middle East through the Suez Canal to Europe.