Iran’s naval forces are on full alert and in complete control of the Persian Gulf waters and the Sea of Oman against any external provocations, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy said on Monday.
According to Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri, the IRGC Navy monitors all movements by trans-regional forces present in the regional waters, Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.
“Any attempt to invade our land, water and air will be met with a rapid response,” Tangsiri added.
He made the remarks on the fifth anniversary of the arrest of American forces trespassing on the country’s territorial waters.
Two US Navy crafts, carrying 10 Marines, reached three miles into the waters surrounding Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf on January 12, 2016.
The then IRGC Navy commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, said the trespassing occurred because of technical problems with the navigation systems of the US vessels.
The IRGC released the sailors a day later, saying in a statement that “after technical and operational examinations done in interaction with the country’s relevant political and national security authorities and the establishment of the inadvertent and unintentional nature of the entry by the American Navy crafts and their apology, a decision was made to free them.”
Tangsiri further stressed, “The naval forces of the IRGC and the Iranian Army are present in the Persian Gulf and their presence continues through the southern waters to the Indian Ocean.”
Stressing that the Persian Gulf is in full security, he said, “The navy of the IRGC and the army are fully prepared against any aggression.”
Commenting on acts of provocation by hostile forces in the Persian Gulf, the commander said that the Americans’ Persian Gulf strategy has failed. He added, “We have barred the enemy from implementing its strategy and this is why the Persian Gulf is secure.”
IRGC staged a naval march near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf on Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the arrest of US forces trespassing on the country’s territorial waters.
The naval march was held in the vicinity of the strategic island, with the participation of more than 700 boats and military vessels from the IRGC Navy and the maritime Basij volunteer force.
Two US Navy crafts, carrying 10 Marines, reached three miles into the waters surrounding Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf on January 12, 2016.
Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the then-commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy, said that the trespassing occurred because of technical problems with the navigation systems of the US vessels.
The IRGC released the sailors a day later, saying in a statement that “after technical and operational examinations done in interaction with the country’s relevant political and national security authorities and the establishment of the inadvertent and unintentional nature of the entry by the American Navy crafts and their apology, a decision was made to free them.”