PHOTO: Iranian patrol boats in Persian Gulf

Iran’s military has renewed its challenging rhetoric to the US over the Persian Gulf, warning against American “mischief”.

The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Navy, Admiral Ali Fadavi, said on Saturday:

[The US] are conducting their acts of mischief in the Persian Gulf and the West Asian regions…with two objectives. Their first objective is to fulfill their own interests and the second one is to show their hostility towards the Islamic Revolution.

Fadavi assured that the IRGC would maintain security in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz “in the best form and with full power”: “The Islamic Iran opposes any move which will harm sustainable security [in the Persian Gulf] and will carry out necessary measures to safeguard such sustainable security because all people around the world will benefit from this security”.

“Zionist Plot of Islamic State” in Persian Gulf

Iranian officials and the Guards have regularly issued statements warning the US to keep its navy out of the Gulf. US sailors were briefly detained in January by the IRGC when their patrol boat, reportedly because of technical failure, strayed into Iranian territorial waters. In recent weeks, Iranian patrol boats have “harassed” American warships, according to US officials.

Tension escalated further last week as Saudi Arabia carried out naval exercises in international waters in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and Strait on Hormuz. The IRGC said any “transgression” into Iranian waters would be met with an “immediate and befitting response”.

Fadavi’s deputy, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, added on Saturday that Iranian vigilance was needed because of the “Zionist plot of Daesh [the Islamic State”: “Through its wisdom and rationality, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made efforts to prevent the realization of the Zionists’ scenario to spread insecurity and crime to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz regions.

Tangsiri advised the “rulers of certain countries in the region2 to stop helping the plots of Iran’s enemies.