Leader's advisor warns US to accept Iran’s conditions or face a ‘hard slap’

An advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution has warned that Washington will either receive a "hard slap" or be forced to accept Tehran's terms, noting that the United States has been systematically sabotaging diplomacy and violating ceasefire commitments.

Speaking to the national broadcaster late Thursday, Mohsen Rezaei, also a member of the Expediency Council, laid out a detailed indictment of a pattern of American betrayal of diplomacy — now in its third iteration.

"The first betrayal came during the 12-day war and the second during the Ramadan war," he said, referring to unprovoked wars that the US and the Israeli regime imposed on Iran in June 2025 and February, both of which came amid indirect talks between Tehran and Washington.  

The third, he said, was the most brazen: one day before a two-week ceasefire was set to expire, the United States imposed a naval blockade. "That is a declaration of war," Rezaei said. "It is a betrayal of diplomacy."

Washington has maintained the illegal blockade of Iranian vessels and ports since US President Donald Trump announced its continuation in mid-April, in a violation of the terms of the ceasefire brokered in the Pakistani capital.

America, Rezaei said, had also failed to honor its commitments in the Lebanon front — adding another breach to a growing list.

The general implied that the door on talks has not been slammed. He pointed, instead, to the structural dishonesty poisoning negotiations. Washington claims it will lift the blockade if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened yet the strait, he noted, remains open to commerce today.

"So why aren't they lifting the blockade now?" he asked.

As a further confidence-building measure, he said the US must release at least $24 billion in frozen Iranian funds.

"The Hormuz Strait is a powerful arm of deterrence for us," he said. "The enemy must either come to its senses with a hard slap, or it must wisely accept Iran's conditions."

Iran on Wednesday announced retaliatory strikes on an enemy vessel, the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and a regional American airbase after US attacks on an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and a telecommunications tower on the Persian Gulf island of Qeshm.

Tehran has said it will not reopen the Strait — through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and gas passes — until the blockade is fully lifted and the war reaches a permanent end.

Iran closed the waterway to the vessels affiliated with aggressors and their supporters following the start of the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran on February 28.

Rezaei also noted that Trump’s approach to the war on Iran will expire soon. The US president, he said, is trapped between two contradictory imperatives: softening tensions to steady the American economy while simultaneously maintaining a posture of military threat against Iran.

"He has failed to execute this technique correctly," Rezaei said. The tactic, he added, has an expiration date. "It will not produce results for long, and it will lose its effect."

Tehran will continue supporting Lebanon

Turning to Lebanon, Rezaei said, "It is a general principle in the world that if a country does not support its allies, it will no longer be reliable."

Hezbollah, he said, "sacrificed greatly" in the recent war and is Tehran's ally. "We support Hezbollah, and we stand firmly by our commitment."

He added that when the Zionist regime threatened Beirut and the Dahiyeh suburb earlier this week, Iranian missiles were already aimed and ready to strike the north of the occupied territories.

The Israeli regime retreated from conducting heavy attacks against Beirut following Tehran’s warnings.

"We warn this ominous regime to leave Lebanon," he said, "and let it know that Lebanon will be an inseparable part of any agreement or ceasefire."

Iran has consistently held that any permanent end to the war must encompass all fronts, including Lebanon.

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