IRGC rejects the claim that Masoud Pezeshkian knew nothing of the attack on three oil tankers

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has rejected the account that portrayed Masoud Pezeshkian, head of the Islamic Republic's government, as unaware of the attack on three oil tankers this summer. Hossein Mohebbi, the IRGC spokesman, said on Wednesday 14 October that the attack on the ships, which the IRGC calls "violators", was not an "unauthorised" act and was carried out in coordination with higher-ups after the Islamabad memorandum of understanding was signed.

Mohebbi described the attacks as a response to what he called "America's third breach of its commitments", claiming that the United States had trampled the memorandum by opening a route in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast and forcing ships to pass through it. He threatened that if such a situation is repeated, the IRGC would give the same response, "even stronger".

The account of the head of government's ignorance

The IRGC spokesman's remarks come after Behzad Nabavi, a leading reformist figure, said, citing sources he called "reliable", that Pezeshkian had protested to the armed forces' commanders after the attack on the three tankers, and that the commanders had told him they had played no part in the attacks and that no order had been issued for them. Now the IRGC is officially saying the attack was carried out in coordination, which means either the head of government has been sidelined from military decisions, or the account of his ignorance was a cover from the start to dodge responsibility.

A history of confrontation between the IRGC and Pezeshkian

This is not the IRGC's first open confrontation with Pezeshkian. Earlier, too, Mohebbi, responding to Pezeshkian's remark about handing 20 million barrels of the government's oil to the IRGC to cover war costs, had said he knew nothing of any such allocation. The attacks on the tankers in June–July led to the Strait of Hormuz being closed again and to the resumption of the US naval blockade, a blockade that has cut the Islamic Republic's crude oil exports to zero. Attacks on ships are continuing as well, and the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre has recorded 15 attacks in eight days.

By rejecting the account of Pezeshkian's ignorance, the IRGC showed that the decision on war and attack in the Islamic Republic lies in the hands of the military.