TEHRAN – The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri has suggested that eight littoral states of the Persian Gulf should form a naval alliance to ensure regional security without the presence of outsiders.

In comments at a televised program, Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri said the Persian Gulf countries are capable of ensuring regional security through mutual cooperation within the framework of an 8-nation alliance.

The naval alliance will help the regional people live in peace, he added, reminding the neighboring states that the outsiders provoke Iranophobia in order to justify their illegitimate presence in the region.

The commander warned that the foreign military forces are in the region with the purpose of selling arms and plundering the oil resources.

In June, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said a number of regional countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, will form a new naval coalition in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean.

He also confirmed that the UAE has withdrawn from a U.S.-led naval coalition in the Persian Gulf, saying, “Today, the regional countries have realized that establishment of security in the region requires synergy and cooperation.”

 

Foreign Nuclear Submarines Cause Environmental Threats to Persian Gulf

 

Rear Admiral Tangsiri blasted the presence of extra-regional forces in the region, and said that their nuclear-powered submarine should not be deployed in the Persian Gulf strategic waterway due to their potential environmental threats.

Rear Admiral Tangsiri stressed that the presence of nuclear-powered submarines in the Persian Gulf can result in marine pollution in case of an accident, which can lead to a “catastrophe” in the international waterway.

“Extra-regional countries like the United States, France and others have nuclear-powered submarines. Considering that the Persian Gulf is a closed area, if something happens to one of the submarines and the submarine’s reactor faces a problem or collides with other vessels, it will cause the area to remain polluted for 11 years,” he added.

Admiral Tangsiri pointed out that this means that for 11 years, there will be no fish and aquatic animals in this area, and its water will become unusable.

“In fact, the Persian Gulf region will be facing a catastrophe,” he added.

The senior commander stressed that the countries present in the region do not take their nuclear watercraft into closed bays “but they do so in the Persian Gulf while it is 

prohibited and this should not happen”.
Admiral Tangsiri said Iran’s neighbors should know that the presence of foreign forces would not create security in the region.
“Our neighbors should never think that extra-regional countries will stay in the region to defend them; but they will eventually leave the region,” he said, adding that the foreigners are in the region either for selling weapons or plundering oil resources.
The Persian Gulf, spanning some 251,000 square kilometers, is bounded by the Arvand River in the north, which forms the frontier between Iran and Iraq, and the Strait of Hormuz in the south, linking the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean.
The strategic inland sea is an international trade route connecting the Middle East to Africa, India, and China.
Iranian military officials have on numerous occasions stated that the presence of extra-regional forces in the Persian Gulf is illegitimate and there is no need for them to ensure the security of the strategic waterway.