US Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Iran of acting like “pirates” and destabilising maritime security, warning that a tightening US-led blockade has left Tehran isolated. He alleged IRGC involvement in attacks on random ships and claimed Iran’s regime is both externally aggressive and internally repressive, asserting US control over regional shipping.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, speaking during a press conference on Friday, delivered a sharply worded warning to Tehran, accusing the Iranian regime of destabilising maritime security by behaving like “pirates” on the global stage. The remarks, later shared by the White House on its official handle on X, underscored rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

The Secretary claimed that a tightening blockade has effectively placed severe restrictions on Iran’s movements, asserting that “nothing in, nothing out” reflects growing American control over the situation in the West Asia region. He specifically targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), alleging that it has been weakened to the point of operating like a “gang of pirates with a flag.”

“To the regime in Tehran, the blockade is tightening by the hour. We are in control, nothing in, nothing out. Iran’s battered military, the IRGC specifically, has been reduced to a gang of pirates with a flag. They cloak their aggression in slogans, but the world now sees them for what they are: criminals on the high seas. They don’t control anything. They’re acting like pirates, acting like terrorists,” Hegseth said.

He accused Iranian forces of engaging in indiscriminate attacks at sea, including laying mines and firing at commercial vessels without provocation. He emphasised that ships targeted in recent incidents were neither American nor Israeli, but random vessels.