A hard-line faction within Iran’s Revolutionary Guards attacked a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz in July on its own initiative, without informing senior military and political officials, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing two members of the organization and five Iranian officials familiar with the matter.
The officials said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was furious over the attack, which had not been authorized by Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, the report said. Vahidi himself said the Supreme National Security Council, which is involved in decisions on the war and negotiations, had also been kept in the dark, the sources added.
Iran faced international condemnation following the July 7 attack, in which its forces fired on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, set fire to a Qatari gas tanker and damaged other vessels. The move effectively derailed efforts by more moderate officials in Tehran to end the confrontation with the United States and revive Iran’s economy.
According to the report, when Pezeshkian demanded to know who was responsible for the attack, he was told that commanders on the ground had acted independently under an order allowing them to attack any vessel that violated Iranian control of the strait, without waiting for approval from the central command.
Three Iranian officials told The Times that regime and security-force investigations found that cleric Hossein Taeb ordered the attack. Taeb, who opposed a deal with Washington, was appointed by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to lead the Basij militia. The sources said Taeb told Khamenei that Iran had erred by agreeing to end the war and sign the deal.