The US cannot achieve its goals of blockading Iran’s economy and shutting its trade routes because Tehran has made preparations and communicates closely with neighbours, a Revolutionary Guards spokesperson has been quoted as saying, Reuters reports.

Hossein Mohebbi was reacting to the US military’s Task Force Iron Gate, launched to help crack down on Tehran’s movement of advanced weapons and other sanctioned material over its land borders and through the Caspian Sea.

“The Iron Gate plan is merely a wordplay, the Americans cannot achieve their objectives of imposing severe economic pressure to cause economic collapse in Iran through this approach,” Mohebbi tells the semi-official Fars news agency.