The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Second Naval Zone, General Ali Razmjou, went on a tirade against the United States and her allies who patrol the Persian Gulf by alleging the U.S. causes “instability” and that the IRGC was ‘capable of establishing security in the region.’
[revad1]
Razmjou told IRGC commanders and forces,
“The foreign forces don’t play any role in establishing security in the Persian Gulf and they are not helpful to regional stability.”
He went on to state that Iran is quite capable of providing security in the region to thwart any enemy advance as well as protect the Persian Gulf and to reinforce his claim, 100 IRGC vessels are always deployed in the region.
“100 IRGC vessels are present in the Persian Gulf round the clock everyday and the Americans see our vessels everywhere they look,” he said.
Razmjou added that the U.S. is hesitant to act against the Islamic Revolution because it would be more harmful than helpful,
“… [the U.S. doesn’t] dare to take any action and this shows the Islamic Revolution’s deterrence power which is increasing everyday.”
Razmjou’s remarks were made on March 20, the same day French naval forces intercepted a large Iranian weapons cache destined for Yemen and to add insult to injury, the United States Navy intercepted another large Iranian weapons caches on March 28th. One does not have to draw too much of a correlation between his comments on securing the Persian Gulf with the frustration of losing tens of thousands of Iranian weapons destined for fighters in their state-sponsored terrorism network.
As long as Iran continues to attempt to evade patrols (via their proxy shipping vessels in the Persian Gulf) to safeguard its weapon shipments, there will always be a need to counter their illicit activity. Is this just more sabre-rattling from Iran or will the U.S. and her allies see an increase of Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf?
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