IRGC Naval Commander:

Iran Watching Every Movement in Persian Gulf

Date: 15 December 2019 - 21:45

News ID: ۷۳۹۲۰

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) naval commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said on Sunday the Persian Gulf belongs to Iran and Iranian forces are closely watching the movement of any foreign vessel in the strategic waters.
Tangsiri said the IRGC’s naval forces control and monitor the foreign vessels which enter the Persian Gulf and question them about their nationality, type of vessel and their destination.
"We have the right to question any vessels entering the Straits of Hormuz and Iranian territorial waters,” he said in an interview with Tasnim news agency.
The U.S. has always responded to these requests, he said.
Iran has repeatedly called on the regional countries, especially the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, to help collectively establish security in the Persian Gulf without the intervention of outside forces.
"The Persian Gulf belongs to Iran and the Persian Gulf littoral states and we have the right to question the vessels, because the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz is located in Iran’s territorial waters,” Tangsiri said.
Tensions have risen in the waters since the U.S. sent additional troops and warships to the Persian Gulf, citing unspecified Iranian threat.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said Sunday the military presence of the United States in the Persian Gulf has brought about disaster for regional countries and helped foment extremism.
"The disparities in power, geographic size, natural and human resources and the like among countries in our region have led to disastrous conclusions,” he told the Doha Forum in the Qatari capital.
"Some global actors look at these disparities and the unending rivalries in the region as an opportunity: indeed, as providing a fertile ground to expand their military presence and to sell more weapons to nearly all sides in the region,” Iran’s foreign minister said.
He added that the presence of foreign forces in the region has failed to foster security and "only led to disasters, from the downing of an Iranian civil airliner by USS Vincennes in 1988 to the rise in extremism as a natural consequence of the US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan—an outcome we had predicted as early as 2001.”
Slamming Washington’s policy of selling more arms to the Persian Gulf countries, which has led to an arms race in the region, Iran’s top diplomat said, "As for weapons trade, the Persian Gulf states accounted for nearly one quarter of global arms imports during 2014-18, almost doubling on average compared to the preceding five years. Unsurprisingly, the United States sold most of these lethal arms.”
Zarif also took some regional countries to task for adopting unwise policies, saying, "And most in this region, enjoying the abundance of wealth brought by petrodollars, believe that everything can be bought. Certainly, arms – including the most sophisticated ones—can be purchased in abundance.”
He then explained Iran’s policy vis-à-vis the ongoing crises in the Persian Gulf region, saying, "The recent proposal of President Rouhani to launch the Hormuz Peace Endeavor—or HOPE—is a continuation of our longstanding commitment to an inclusive and comprehensive regional framework for constructive engagement.”