Iranian General: No Peace in Hormuz While Trump Is in Power
Major General Mohammad Reza Naqdi tells PBS that the war with the US has become a war without strategy and that Iran can fight for years.
Major General Mohammad Reza Naqdi tells PBS that the war with the US has become a war without strategy and that Iran can fight for years.
Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, where the status of the Strait of Hormuz has been uncertain for months, one of the leading figures of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gave an interview to the American television network PBS. Major General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, one of the key figures shaping the course of the conflict between Iran and the US, told the West that the war, despite American announcements of an imminent ceasefire, will not end so quickly.
The interview was conducted on camera in Tehran, and his views were reported on Monday, August 17, 2026, by the Croatian newspaper Novi list. Naqdi directly commented on American strategy, calling it confused.
General Naqdi claims that the United States has lost its direction in a conflict that has been ongoing for nearly six months. "After the failure of two main American goals-overthrowing the leadership and breaking Iran-one can see the confusion and bewilderment of the US. For them, this has become a war without strategy. Every two or three days, they announce new objectives. One day it's an invasion of Kharg Island, a few days later they want to force open the Strait of Hormuz, then they mobilize naval forces, and then they announce major airstrikes. They have no strategy and don't know what they're doing," Naqdi said.
Naqdi emphasized that Iran's perception of the American military has changed during the conflict. "American military power is not as great as we imagined; they are weaker than we expected. Our goal now is to achieve a kind of lasting deterrence-we want to put ourselves in a position where the enemy can never attack us in the future, so we can live in security. One way to do that is to drag out this war until the next American president enters the White House. It will be exhausting for everyone, but then everyone will know what happens when you attack Iran-they will know the price that must be paid," he explained.
General Naqdi also asserted that Iran's missile and drone arsenal, contrary to the claims of Israel and the US, is very well stocked and that they are capable of sustaining conflicts for years. He cited a special doctrine that Iran has developed as the key reason.
"We have established a system in which we produce more missiles and drones each day than we launch. In a country as large as Iran, we can produce them wherever we want-there are thousands of suitable locations. And we produce them in various ways. We have several methods for producing them in places that are completely safe and will not be attacked or discovered. I assure you, if the war lasts for years, until the very last day we would have the capability to launch missiles and drones," Naqdi said.
When asked about the possibility of the US using an atomic bomb against Iran, Naqdi did not rule out such an outcome but warned that it would be just the beginning of a full-scale conflict that Iran would open against the US worldwide.
"America has thousands of economic interests around the world, and all of them can be relatively easily destroyed. If they made that mistake and used a nuclear bomb, by the next morning all American bases around the world would be seized. Things are somewhat different today than during World War II, and people around the world have woken up," Naqdi concluded in the interview with PBS.
His statements come at a time when, according to Atlantic Politics from August 16, 2026, former US President Donald Trump is under pressure due to the humiliation in Iran, which further complicates the geopolitical situation in the region. Although there is no direct connection to Croatia, prolonged instability in the Strait of Hormuz could affect global energy prices, and thus indirectly the Croatian economy.
