Iranian hardliners, the report said, believe that the financial crisis sparked by the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iran’s oil exports amounts to an act of war and have called for resuming military action.
But Iran's military is severely degraded in terms of its missile inventory and naval capability, with reports indicating up to 75% of its launcher force lost.
Reports suggest about 70 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk and Iranian air defenses have been largely destroyed by U.S. and Israeli actions.
It wouldn’t be the first time the Iranian regime has considered deploying kamikaze dolphins.
In 2000, Iran purchased dolphins that had been trained to kill for the Soviet navy.
The animals were trained to attack enemies with harpoons attached to their backs, the Journal noted.
They were also trained to undertake kamikaze strikes against enemy ships by carrying mines.
In his post on May 3, Trump noted that:
“Countries from all over the World…have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”
The new effort called “Project Freedom,” does not currently involve U.S. Navy warships escorting vessels through the strait, an administration official said, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The Journal also reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to cut key phone cables running through the strait, which could wreak havoc on global internet communications. “The blockade is increasingly viewed in Tehran not as a substitute for war, but as a different manifestation of it,” Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow specializing in the Middle East at SWP, a Berlin-based research institute, told the Journal. “As a result, Iranian decision makers may soon come to see renewed conflict as less costly than continuing to endure a prolonged blockade.” Fox News’s Jesse Watters discussed the kamikaze dolphins scheme:🚨 KAMIKAZE DOLPHINS? WTF!
Iran so desperate they’re deploying kamikaze dolphins against America in the Strait. The mullahs want to strap mines to dolphins now. Don’t tell PETA! These rogues are that desperate, blockades already forcing ships to turn around, Pentagon using… pic.twitter.com/VqT5rCTVEE — Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) May 2, 2026
