Speaking about the martyred Leader's approach to Iran's defense strategy, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei followed defense affairs with "special prudence and wisdom" and played a decisive role in shaping the country's military doctrine.
The general said that in 2011, the martyred Leader instructed him to prepare, within one month, a comprehensive plan for closing the Strait of Hormuz. Rahim Safavi said he subsequently worked with senior IRGC commanders to draft a 15-page operational plan.
According to Rahim Safavi, the proposal covered not only the closure of the Strait of Hormuz but also operations in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean.
He said the martyred Leader later referred the plan to the General Staff of the Armed Forces for implementation, adding that "part of what is being carried out today" stems directly from that strategy devised 15 years ago.
The senior military adviser also recalled that when he became IRGC commander in 1997, the martyred Leader placed particular emphasis on expanding Iran's missile arsenal.
At the time, Iran possessed around 2,000 missiles, but Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei considered that insufficient and instructed military commanders to build a missile capability capable of sustaining "at least three months of an offensive war," Rahim Safavi noted.