Washington DC [US], April 24 (ANI): The United States has sharpened its rhetoric against Iran while continuing to enforce an expanding naval blockade, with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth accusing Tehran's military forces of destabilizing maritime security and targeting civilian vessels. The comments signal a further hardening of Washington's stance as tensions persist over Iran's nuclear ambitions and regional activities.

In a forceful statement, Hegseth described Iran's military posture as weakened and increasingly reliant on irregular tactics at sea, while reiterating that the US is prepared to sustain pressure for as long as necessary.

'There is a rule: nothing in, nothing out. Iran's battered military, the IRGC specifically, has been reduced to a gang of pirates. They cloak their aggression with a flag, but the world sees them for what they are-criminals on the high seas. They don't control anything. They are acting like pirates; they are acting like terrorists. They are the ones who lay indiscriminate mines, who shoot at random ships, who killed 45,000 of their own people-innocent protesters-in the course of weeks, their own people,' said Hegseth.

'They are the bad actors. The vessels that Iran has seized in recent days are not American ships, not Israeli ships; they are just random ships that sailed where they sailed. Their little speed ships-anyone with a speedboat-gone in the wrong tensions can do that. They know that we, the USA, control the flow of ships, and we know that they know. It's worth saying again: for 47 years, Iran has been at war with America, killing our citizens, our soldiers, and our allies, while previous administrations looked the other way. The real analysis is our war is the war that Iran has waged on us for 47 years,' Hegseth added further.

'President Trump has the guts and moral clarity to finally do something about it. I see it every day behind closed doors-President Trump is unshakable, and his mission is crystal clear. President Trump said it again yesterday: we have all the time in the world; we're not anxious for a deal, and I hear him say it every day in private as well. Iran knows that they still have an open window. As we said previously, choose wisely at the negotiating table. All they have to do is abandon nuclear weapons in meaningful, verifiable ways, or watch the regime's fragile economy collapse under the unrelenting pressure of America and the blockade, as long as it takes, whatever President Trump decides. Because the bottom line remains the bottom line: Iran will never get a nuclear bomb. But the choice is theirs. With this blockade, the clock is not on their side,' Hegseth said.

Hegseth says the blockade is designed to restrict Iran's access to critical resources and limit its ability to project power through maritime routes. The operation has reportedly expanded in scope, with increased naval deployments and surveillance aimed at enforcing compliance.

Meanwhile, Washington continues to emphasize that diplomatic options remain available, though contingent on Iran abandoning its nuclear program under strict verification. The administration maintains that economic and military pressure will persist until those conditions are met.

As the blockade deepens and rhetoric intensifies, the path forward remains uncertain, with both sides signaling resolve in a standoff that could shape regional security dynamics in the months ahead.(ANI)