IRGC Spokesman:
U.S. Has Realized Who Is in Charge in Persian Gulf
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of "zero harassment of U.S. ships by the Iranian Navy” in 2018.
IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif said the real reason is that "U.S. vessels have realized who is in charge in Iran’s southern waters.”
IRGC vessels, he said, have been patrolling the Persian Gulf waters for many years and they continue to watch the behavior of foreign ships and frequently warn them not to enter Iranian waters.
"We have had many of instances of encounters with U.S. vessels, the last of which led to the arrest of U.S. troopers, who were eventually released after the U.S. apologized,” Sharif told Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Kawthar TV.
The spokesman was referring to the arrest of ten U.S. Navy sailors by Iranian guards in January 2016.
Since then, U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf have been more considerate of the maritime rules and careful not to take provocative measures.
"The decrease in confrontations is due to the fact that they are now aware who is in charge. There have been no specific changes in the operations of IRGC’s naval forces,” he said.
On July 8, Trump tweeted that Iranian "harassment” of U.S. ships had decreased since he took power in January 2017 and had eventually stopped in the second year of his administration.
The U.S. president was referring to statistics by U.S. Navy on "dangerous encounters” between Iranian and U.S. forces, which included 22 events in 2015, 36 in 2016, 14 in 2017 and zero in 2018.
The first two years were during the tenure of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif said the real reason is that "U.S. vessels have realized who is in charge in Iran’s southern waters.”
IRGC vessels, he said, have been patrolling the Persian Gulf waters for many years and they continue to watch the behavior of foreign ships and frequently warn them not to enter Iranian waters.
"We have had many of instances of encounters with U.S. vessels, the last of which led to the arrest of U.S. troopers, who were eventually released after the U.S. apologized,” Sharif told Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Kawthar TV.
The spokesman was referring to the arrest of ten U.S. Navy sailors by Iranian guards in January 2016.
Since then, U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf have been more considerate of the maritime rules and careful not to take provocative measures.
"The decrease in confrontations is due to the fact that they are now aware who is in charge. There have been no specific changes in the operations of IRGC’s naval forces,” he said.
On July 8, Trump tweeted that Iranian "harassment” of U.S. ships had decreased since he took power in January 2017 and had eventually stopped in the second year of his administration.
The U.S. president was referring to statistics by U.S. Navy on "dangerous encounters” between Iranian and U.S. forces, which included 22 events in 2015, 36 in 2016, 14 in 2017 and zero in 2018.
The first two years were during the tenure of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.