‘If necessary we will take advantage of the element of martyrdom-seeking,’ said Brigadier General Ali Fahdavi, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards’ naval forces.

‘This spirit is prevailing now throughout the Revolutionary Guards,’ he added. The Basij militia is part of the Guards’ military apparatus.

‘They have taken an example from Shahid (martyr) Fahmideh,’  Fahdavi said, referring to 13-year-old Iranian Hossein Fahmideh who became a national hero after blowing himself up under an Iraqi tank in the 1980-1988 war.

‘The scene of the Persian Gulf and strategic Strait of Hormuz is such that even a small operation can have a big impact,’ he added.