A senior Iranian threatens: we will sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz

At the same time, Rezaei brought up another escalation scenario and claimed that an American ground invasion of Iran could become an “opportunity” for Tehran. According to him, in such a case Iran may take thousands of hostages and demand a billion dollars for each of them. He also clarified that he opposes the extension of the ceasefire, which he defined as a “personal position”, and emphasized that Iran will not give up its control of the Strait of Hormuz as long as its rights are not fully respected. According to him, the control of the maritime passage remains a central element in the security and strategic policy of the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, according to a report in the “Wall Street Journal”, US President Trump said at a private dinner at the White House with the King and Queen of the Netherlands that he aims to end the war with Iran quickly, and emphasized that the way to bring Tehran back to negotiations is to “increase the pressure”.

It was reported on the Axios website that the negotiating teams of the United States and Iran are making significant progress in the talks and are getting closer to a framework agreement to end the war between them. According to senior American officials, the diplomatic efforts being conducted with the help of mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey, are focused on trying to bridge the remaining gaps before the current ceasefire expires on April 21.