TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- The U.S. military presence in the Middle East is at its "weakest in history”, a deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump has tightened economic sanctions against Iran, and his administration says it has built up the U.S. military presence in the region.
Tehran has described U.S. moves as "psychological warfare” and a "political game”.
"The Americans have been present in the region since 1833 and they are now at their weakest in history in West Asia and have the minimum number of warships in the Persian Gulf,” said Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, a deputy IRGC commander.
In February 2016, Fadavi received "first class” Fath (Victory) medal for capturing United States Navy sailors, whose boats illegally entered Iranian territorial waters in January 2016.
He has already said that the immense size of the U.S. carriers makes them an "easy target" for Iranian forces. Furthermore, he has said that contingency plans to "target American carriers" are a priority for the IRGC's naval forces.
Fadavi said on Sunday the Americans have stopped the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean, refusing to bring it to the Persian Gulf out of "the fear they feel” of Iran’s power in the region.
Earlier this month, Washington sent the USS Abraham Lincoln, a squadron of B-52 bombers, and a battery of patriot missiles to the Middle East in response to what it claimed as rising threat from Iran.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced that 1,500 additional troops would be sent to the Middle East, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying the deployment was "mostly protective.”
Iran has denounced "fabricated allegations to justify beefed-up U.S. military presence in the region, saying Washington’s decision to deploy additional troops to the region threatens international peace and security.
Fadavi lashed out the United States’ "psychological” warfare against Iran, describing it as an act of evil.
He also refuted U.S. claims of having defeated terrorist groups, including Daesh, in the Middle East.
The IRGC commander said it was Iran and fighters loyal to the Islamic Revolution that put an end to the Takfiri terrorism supported by the "world arrogance”.
Fighters loyal to the Islamic Revolution routed terrorists in various parts of the Middle East, "and today, there is no sign of self-proclaimed terrorist states in the region,” he said.