According to CoinMeta, a senior spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, General Qasem Soleimani, said on August 31 local time, "If Trump thinks that the Strait of Hormuz is American territory, then he must be dreaming." Soleimani stated, "We are determined to drive the Americans out of the West Asian region." He also mentioned, "In this war with such a disparity in strength, the Iranian armed forces have employed new types of asymmetric tactics to counter the highly advanced weapons of the United States and Israel, dealing a heavy blow to their coalition forces." Despite the huge economic costs, Iranian drones and ballistic missiles have managed to penetrate the defense systems of the US and Israeli forces, "successfully hitting predetermined targets on US military bases and occupied territories."