What They’re Saying About Operation Epic Fury—April 19, 2026

U.S.

President Donald Trump | Truth Social

“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations. Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it. They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing. . . . We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”

President Donald Trump | Press Interview

“If they [the Iranian regime] don’t sign this deal, the whole country is going to get blown up.”

Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz | Press Interview

“[The IRGC] is in absolute disarray because of the devastating attacks across its leadership . . . It’s the blockade, the U.S. Navy, and President Trump, who’s ultimately deciding what gets in and out. The President has completely turned the tables on Iran’s attempt to hold the entire world’s economies hostage.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright | Press Interview

“The president is using every way he can to get leverage over the regime to bring this conflict to an end. He’s a creative negotiator; he uses pressure in different ways; he uses uncertainty in different ways. . . . I think we'll have a nice end to this conflict, and have the Middle East finally not have a constant terror, a constant risk, over the regimes in the area, over economies in the area, and ultimately the flow of goods through the Strait of Hormuz.”

IRAN

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf | Interview on State TV

“[T]he Strait of Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic of Iran. . . . If the US does not abandon the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be restricted. . . . We confronted the US attempt at mine-clearing decisively and consider it a violation of the ceasefire, and we went as far as the stage of confrontation, but the enemy retreated. . . . I told the US delegation [to the Islamabad Talks] that if their minesweeper moved even slightly forward from its position, we would definitely fire at it. They asked for 15 minutes to issue the order to return, and they did. . . . [T]he Americans have announced a blockade in recent days; this is a naive decision made out of ignorance. . . . It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei | X

“No rule of international law forbids Iran, the coastal State, from taking necessary measures to stop the Strait of Hormuz being used for waging military aggression against Iran. And ‘unconditional transit passage’ in Hormuz? That fiction sailed the moment U.S./Israeli aggression brought U.S. military assets into the strait’s backyard.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei | X

“The United States’ so-called ‘blockade’ of Iran’s ports or coastline is not only a violation of Pakistani-mediated ceasefire but also both unlawful and criminal. It violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter; it constitutes an act of aggression under Article 3(c) of the UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974), which explicitly includes the blockade of a state’s ports or coasts among such acts. Moreover, by deliberately inflicting collective punishment on the Iranian population, it amounts to war crime and crime against humanity.”