WASHINGTON/TEHRAN – US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran will buy US agricultural products as part of a potential peace agreement to end the war – a statement that Iran has refuted.

"They're making no money, so we're going to take some of the money, and we're going to buy them. They need food. They need corn and wheat and soybeans, and we're going to have exclusively our American farmers provide," Trump said in an interview with CNBC.

But Abdolnaser Hemmati, governor of Iran's central bank, told the Iranian news agency Tasnim that "there is no obligation to buy agricultural inputs from the US."

In the interview, Trump said that negotiations with Iran are moving forward, claiming that he believes Tehran has agreed to "just about everything we need."

The US president defended his decision to launch a war against Iran, saying that "this is the de-nuking of Iran."

Trump added that he considers the roughly four-month duration of the war relatively short, compared with the long-term conflicts the United States has previously engaged in. 

'US interference' in Hormuz Strait

Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, on Thursday warned that any US interference in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with the Iranian armed forces' "decisive and swift" response.

In a statement carried by Iranian media, the headquarters stressed that the strait is not the "aggressive US playground," but the territory of Iran's "undisputed sovereignty," with its security and stability considered a red line for the Iranian military.

It stressed that all oil tankers and commercial vessels seeking to pass through the strait must use routes designated by Iran, warning that any non-compliance and use of other routes, or disregard for Iran's navigation protocols, will be met with the Iranian armed forces' "immediate and decisive" response, and endanger the violating vessels' safety.

The headquarters said that Iran considers any US attempt to interfere in security affairs or cause disruption in the Strait of Hormuz as a threat against its national security, and will respond to it "swiftly and decisively."

It emphasized that the continued presence of US manned and unmanned fighter aircraft over the waterway will cause insecurity, adding that Iran will not hesitate to take the necessary actions to "crush any aggression" by the US forces and their supporters to protect its sovereignty over the strait.

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IRGC says dismantled 'separatist terrorist' group 

Also on Thursday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that its forces had smashed a "separatist terrorist" group associated with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, killing all five members.

In a statement on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said the separatist group's members were ambushed near the country's northwestern border in Piranshahr County on Wednesday.