The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran has dismissed a newly announced U.S. military initiative,Task Force Iron Gate, as a hollow and ineffective move, branding it "merely wordplay" as the strategic standoff over shipping routes and Washington's economic blockade continues to escalate.

According to PressTV, IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi told the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday that the U.S. plan cannot achieve its stated goal of crippling Iran’s economy through intensified pressure. “The Iron Gate plan is merely wordplay. The Americans cannot achieve their objectives of imposing severe economic pressure to cause economic collapse in Iran through this approach,” Mohebbi stated.

Mohebbi further criticized Washington’s long-standing predictions of Iran’s financial ruin, noting that U.S. officials had previously forecast an economic collapse within two weeks,a timeline that has proven false. He asserted that Tehran had long anticipated such economic pressure and had proactively fortified its resilience by maintaining and strengthening close bilateral relations with neighboring countries.

The IRGC’s spokesman Hossein Mohebbi remarks came just one day after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) officially announced the establishment of Task Force Iron Gate on Saturday. The initiative is designed to tighten control over the flow of goods and particularly targeting Iran’s land border routes and its access to the Caspian Sea. This new task force represents an escalation in the U.S. strategy to interrupt supply chains that Washington alleges are used by Iran to evade sanctions. However, many analysts view this as a desperate move by Washington that is unlikely to succeed.