The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that the head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit asserted that the Strait of Hormuz is "under Iran's control," countering President Donald Trump's claim of "total control" by the United States over the waterway. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that Hossein Taeb claimed the U.S. aimed to undermine the Islamic Republic's regional popularity by instigating a war in the Strait of Hormuz, but was again defeated despite asserting that Iran lacked an air force and navy. "Today you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic Republic," Mr. Taeb said. He added that Iran was continuing on its course in complete security. After the start of the war Tehran effectively shut the strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas was previously shipped. Iran's joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said that no vessel could transit the strait without Tehran's permission. "The baseless claims made by the United States regarding the normal passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz are nothing more than lies and falsehoods," the command said in a statement published by state media.