Following Naval Incident in Persian Gulf:
IRGC Warns U.S. Against Any Miscalculation
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran will give a decisive response to any mistake by the United States in the Persian Gulf, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy said in a statement on Sunday.
The U.S. military said on Wednesday that 11 vessels from the IRGC Navy had come dangerously close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf, calling the moves "dangerous and provocative”.
The IRGC acknowledged it had a tense encounter with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf last week, but said American forces sparked the incident.
The incident Wednesday saw the U.S. Navy release video of small Iranian fast boats coming close to American warships in the northern Persian Gulf, with U.S. Army Apache helicopters.
The IRGC said its forces were on a drill and faced "the unprofessional and provocative actions of the United States and their indifference to warnings.” It said the Americans later withdrew.
The IRGC also said American forces blocked Iranian warships on April 6 and April 7 as well.
"We advise the Americans to follow international regulations and maritime protocols in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and to refrain from any adventurism and false and fake stories,” the IRGC said Sunday.
"They should be assured that the IRGC Navy and the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran see the dangerous actions of foreigners in the region as a threat to national security and its red line and any error in calculation on their part will receive a decisive response.”
On Thursday, Defense Minister Amir Hatami said the "illegal and aggressive” American presence in the Persian Gulf is causing insecurity in the region.
"What leads to insecurity in the Persian Gulf region is actually the illegal and aggressive presence of the Americans who have come from the other end of the world to our borders and make such baseless claims,” he told reporters in Tehran.
Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif also slammed the U.S. presence.
"U.S. Navy can’t seem to find its way around our waters... Or maybe it doesn’t know what it’s doing in our backyard, 7,000 miles from home,” Zarif said in a tweet originally published in 2018 and reshared on Thursday.
"The claim that the monitoring of a U.S. naval force within striking distance of Iranian shores constitutes a ‘provocative action’ is absurd on its face,” Bill Van Auken, an activist and a presidential candidate in the U.S. presidential election of 2004, wrote.
"One can only imagine the U.S. reaction if an Iranian naval force were to conduct similar operations off the coast of Florida. The provocation that gives rise to any alleged incident is U.S. imperialism’s own aggressive deployment in the Persian Gulf,” he added.
Tensions between Iran and the United States have reached the highest levels in decades since the United States assassinated top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3, prompting Iran to fire missiles days later at bases in Iraq where U.S. troops are stationed.
The U.S. military said on Wednesday that 11 vessels from the IRGC Navy had come dangerously close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf, calling the moves "dangerous and provocative”.
The IRGC acknowledged it had a tense encounter with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf last week, but said American forces sparked the incident.
The incident Wednesday saw the U.S. Navy release video of small Iranian fast boats coming close to American warships in the northern Persian Gulf, with U.S. Army Apache helicopters.
The IRGC said its forces were on a drill and faced "the unprofessional and provocative actions of the United States and their indifference to warnings.” It said the Americans later withdrew.
The IRGC also said American forces blocked Iranian warships on April 6 and April 7 as well.
"We advise the Americans to follow international regulations and maritime protocols in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and to refrain from any adventurism and false and fake stories,” the IRGC said Sunday.
"They should be assured that the IRGC Navy and the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran see the dangerous actions of foreigners in the region as a threat to national security and its red line and any error in calculation on their part will receive a decisive response.”
On Thursday, Defense Minister Amir Hatami said the "illegal and aggressive” American presence in the Persian Gulf is causing insecurity in the region.
"What leads to insecurity in the Persian Gulf region is actually the illegal and aggressive presence of the Americans who have come from the other end of the world to our borders and make such baseless claims,” he told reporters in Tehran.
Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif also slammed the U.S. presence.
"U.S. Navy can’t seem to find its way around our waters... Or maybe it doesn’t know what it’s doing in our backyard, 7,000 miles from home,” Zarif said in a tweet originally published in 2018 and reshared on Thursday.
"The claim that the monitoring of a U.S. naval force within striking distance of Iranian shores constitutes a ‘provocative action’ is absurd on its face,” Bill Van Auken, an activist and a presidential candidate in the U.S. presidential election of 2004, wrote.
"One can only imagine the U.S. reaction if an Iranian naval force were to conduct similar operations off the coast of Florida. The provocation that gives rise to any alleged incident is U.S. imperialism’s own aggressive deployment in the Persian Gulf,” he added.
Tensions between Iran and the United States have reached the highest levels in decades since the United States assassinated top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3, prompting Iran to fire missiles days later at bases in Iraq where U.S. troops are stationed.