Navy to Send Flotilla to Panama Canal
TEHRAN – Navy chief Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said Wednesday his force plans to dispatch a flotilla to the Panama Canal.
Addressing a conference here, Rear Admiral Irani said the Iranian naval forces have been deployed to all strategic straits around the world, except two.
The navy will sail into one of those two remaining straits -- the Panama Canal.
Pointing to the Iranian naval forces’ success in sailing across the Pacific Ocean, Admiral Irani said Australia and France posed threats to Iran in that mission and tried to break the regulations that they themselves had introduced on sailing past their coasts, but Iran strongly responded in accordance with the law.
The admiral also stated that the Iranian navy has set up three ocean commands supervising naval missions to the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
The equipment that would come into service has been designed in proportion to the missions of the three commands, he said.
In a meeting with a number of commanders and officials of Iran’s navy in November 2022, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed the need for the navy to bolster and maintain its presence in international waters.
The Leader also emphasized the need for the navy to boost its combat capabilities and defense equipment and to continue navigation in remote international waters.