Closure of Hormuz Strait is "smart measure": former IRGC commander

Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a "smart measure", a military analyst and former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander said on Saturday, adding that the IRGC has deployed AI-operated sea mines in the waterway.

The IRGC Navy said the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked since Saturday evening and will not reopen until the United States lifts its naval blockade of the waterway.

In a statement carried by its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said that the move came after the United States violated its commitments under the two-week ceasefire, which took effect on April 8, and failed to end its naval blockade against Iranian vessels and ports.

The IRGC Navy urged all vessels and their owners to follow official updates on its channel and on VHF Channel 16, the international maritime distress, safety and calling frequency. It added that statements by U.S. President Donald Trump hold no credibility in the strait and the Gulf.

The IRGC warned that no vessel should move from its anchorage in the Gulf or the Gulf of Oman, and any approach to the strait would be deemed "cooperation with the enemy" and targeted accordingly.

"Regarding the positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, statements must be made with the approval of the Supreme Leader or through the Supreme National Security Council, which also operates under his approval. Concerning matters related to war, these fall under the supreme Defense Council, which likewise requires the Leader's authorization. With regard to negotiations, Dr. Ghalibaf, who represents both the system and the people, makes decisions, and so far, the Leader has stated that the Hormuz Strait should remain closed. This closure is considered a smart measure. It is open to friends and closed to our enemies. A new legal regime has also been defined for it. Those who purchase oil from us pay duties, and those who do not also have to pay duties," said Hossein Kanani Moghaddam, a military analyst and former IRGC commander.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf led the Iranian delegation in the first round of talks in Islamabad with Washington.

Iran had tightened control over the strait since Feb. 28, when it barred passage to vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States after the two countries' joint strikes on Iranian territory. The United States later imposed its own blockade on the waterway after peace negotiations with Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan collapsed.

Trump said Friday the U.S. naval blockade would "remain in full force," noting that the United States would not lift it until the country makes a deal with Iran. He then said Saturday that Iran cannot "blackmail" the United States with the strait.

Kanani Moghaddam said the Strait remains a strategically sensitive zone with established defensive capabilities.

"What I know is that the IRGC has already placed mines under the sea, which are remotely controlled and operate using artificial intelligence, and they can detonate them whenever they want," the former IRGC commander said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Saturday the country's navy is ready to inflict "new bitter defeats" on the United States and Israel, according to the official news agency IRNA.

"From a military standpoint, the U.S. force posture is oriented toward an offensive operation, including amphibious and ground attacks targeting our infrastructure, islands, and ports. For this purpose, it is mobilizing all its assets and forces," said Kanani Moghaddam.

Closure of Hormuz Strait is "smart measure": former IRGC commander

Honor's humanoid robot, Lightning, which swept the 2026 Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon on Sunday, is a natural extension of years of accumulation in consumer electronics technology, said its developers.

A leading smart device provider in China, Honor independently developed the model, which dominated the podium at the event as it was used by all three teams whose autonomous navigating robots ran the fastest times.

At the Honor factory in Pingshan District in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, where robotics engineers developed Lightning. They said the robot's body design incorporates a simulation system that, through artificial intelligence algorithms, can iterate nearly 30,000 design schemes of varying sizes over three months. Complete and mature systems are also in place for battery, communication, and reliability verification.

"We built a simulation lab from scratch. For the robots, we digitize the entire design and put it into a computer. We have our own material library, which can meet the force, thermal, and chemical property demands for each component, under different environments and speeds. We've accumulated about 1000 kinds of materials. For example, if there's a risk with the robot's neck, we just need to change the material code from 001 to 002. Now, through our simulations, we only need one day to perform parallel calculations on 10 different designs, before creating a mold and verifying it in the lab," said Li Zheng, a senior engineer at Honor.

An autonomous robot capable of completing a half-marathon involves a complete industry chain, with core components including high-precision sensors, LiDAR, motors, operating systems, and control algorithms. The development of robotic marathoners have driven an increasing number of component enterprises to get involved.

Manifold, a tech firm established by newly-graduated PhDs, has developed a 3D spatial memory module, which can model an environment in real time and transform it into images that robots can understand. They said several robots running the half-marathon this year adopted their solution.

"Our device can operate within a one-kilometer tunnel with an error margin of only tens of centimeters. For robots, especially in the absence of GPS, this allows them to accurately determine their location. The underlying technology is a multi-sensor fusion technology that we developed in-house," said Qin Youming, CEO and founder of Manifold.

The Beijing Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center set up a training camp for the marathon event. Many university students came a month ahead of the event to develop and debug their technologies and algorithms based on open-source robot bodies, databases, and training platforms.

"These high-quality databases and highly open-source control algorithms are actually very helpful to us. We no longer need to build the house from the ground up, but can skip the most basic part," said Sun Jingyu, a student from Shandong University.

"Through this racing event, I believe we can make our robots more reliable and stable, while also supporting high-dynamic, high-load movements. This is crucial for robots' future application in both industrial, commercial and domestic scenarios," said Guo Yijie, head of the innovative humanoid department and the Marathon project of Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center.

Engineers share development story behind Beijing humanoid half-marathon champion model