Long regarded as a hardliner even within the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, Rezaei said it would be "great" if the United States launched a ground invasion of Iran.Tehran:

A senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned that US warships in the Strait of Hormuz, blocking shipping traffic to and from Iranian ports, are "within striking range", claiming American naval forces are now "under our missile launchers", escalating tensions in the strategic waterway.

Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said on TV that Tehran would sink American ships if the United States decided to "police" the key shipping bottleneck. Rezaei was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month.

"Trump wants to become the police of the Strait of Hormuz. Is this really your job? Is this the job of a powerful army like the US?" he told state TV. 

A veteran and high-profile figure in Iran, Rezaei led the IRGC from 1981 to 1997.

Addressing the state broadcaster, wearing his military uniform, he said, "The launchers have most likely been moved by our brothers and are now aimed at the Abraham Lincoln and all American warships."

"These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles, and we can destroy them all. We will not allow a single one to escape us."

The US is imposing a military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after Iran blocked shipping for over six weeks of war in a conflict which is on hold as a fragile two-week ceasefire remains in place. 

Challenge To US

Long regarded as a hardliner even within the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, Rezaei said it would be "great" if the United States launched a ground invasion of Iran, as "we would take thousands of hostages and then for each hostage we would get a billion dollars." 

On Ceasefire 

Rezaei claimed that he's "not in favour of extending the ceasefire at all", but he added that the matter is "subject to the decisions of the relevant officials".

He also urged Iranian officials to be more cautious than they had been before in negotiations over economic matters with the US. 

Rezaei claimed it was Iran that was setting the preconditions in the next round of talks, not the US.

"Unlike the Americans who are afraid of continuous war, we are fully prepared and familiar with a long war," he said, according to the report.