General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the chief military advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, stated that the plan to close the Strait of Hormuz was prepared 15 years ago.
Medianews.az reports that Yahya Safavi's statement was published by Iran's "Tasnim" agency.
The general said that as early as 2011, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei instructed him to prepare a plan regarding the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Yahya Rahim Safavi, after that, he, along with Ali Fadavi, then-commander of SEPAH's Naval Forces, Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Forces, and Hossein Salami, deputy commander of SEPAH, prepared a 15-page operational plan.
Yahya Rahim Safavi noted that the plan encompassed not only the closure of the Strait of Hormuz but also operations to be conducted in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
According to him, the document was submitted to the Supreme Leader for approval and then sent to the General Staff of the Armed Forces for implementation.
"The measures being carried out today are part of the plan prepared 15 years ago with the foresight of the martyred leader," Yahya Rahim Safavi emphasized.
The chief military advisor stated that Ali Khamenei has always placed importance on increasing Iran's missile capacity: "When I was appointed commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ('Sepah') in 1997, we had 2,000 missiles. However, the Supreme Leader said this was not enough and stated that the country should have enough missiles to manage an offensive war for at least three months."
It should be noted that General Yahya Rahim Safavi is Azerbaijani. Since 2007, he has been the Supreme Leader’s chief advisor. Prior to that, he led the "Sepah" for 10 years (1997-2007).
Ali Khamenei, who had been Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989, was killed on February 28, 2026, on the first day of the war started against Iran by the USA and Israel, by a missile strike.