The new 20-member task force targets weapons shipments and illicit materials entering Iran through land borders and the Caspian Sea, while Tehran rejects the move.
US President Donald Trump has announced that a new military task force is operational to disrupt overland transit corridors into Iran, targeting routes the US military states are used to transport arms and illicit supplies.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed on Saturday the establishment of a 20-member team designed to build upon an existing US naval blockade of Iranian maritime ports during the ongoing eight-month conflict.
"Task Force Iron Gate is in full force and effect in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Coupled with history's greatest Naval Blockade, very little gets into, or out of, Iran!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper stated that the unit "will further constrain Iran's ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their military."
Targeting land borders, Caspian Sea
Operating from Florida, the combined team of civilian and military personnel is tasked with liaising across US government departments on "preventing the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue streams across Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea," CENTCOM stated.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps rejected Washington's latest move, asserting it "will fail" and will not precipitate economic collapse.
"The United States will never be able to impose the economic blockade it is pursuing and proposing under various names and through different plans," Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebi said, according to the Fars news agency.
CENTCOM noted that the naval blockade against Iranian ports has "prevented Iran from exporting more than $25 billion in crude oil."
In August, Washington initiated an "economic asphyxiation" campaign designed to squeeze Iran's embattled economy.
Those measures followed Tehran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—a crucial artery for global oil flows—where Iranian forces repeatedly targeted vessels attempting transit without authorisation.
TRT World & Agencies — TRT World & Agencies
Photo: AFP
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