'Iron Gate plan is merely wordplay': Iran mocks US military initiative to disrupt supply routes

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has dismissed a new US military initiative to restrict the movement of goods through Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea as “merely wordplay”, as tensions over shipping routes and Washington's blockade continue.

“The Iron Gate plan is merely wordplay. The Americans cannot achieve their objectives of imposing severe economic pressure to cause economic collapse in Iran through this approach,” IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi told the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday, according to Reuters.

Mohebbi said Washington had previously predicted that Iran would suffer economic collapse within two weeks, but that this had not happened.

Tehran had prepared for economic pressure and maintained close relations with neighbouring countries, he said.

The response came after US Central Command (Centcom) announced the establishment of Task Force Iron Gate on Saturday.