The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s
Navy says new speedboats operated by the IRGC will be radar-evading and equipped with new missiles.
Rear admiral Alireza Tangsiri made the remarks in an interview with IRNA on Monday, noting that
the IRGC’s Navy attaches great importance to high speed and maneuverability in its missions.
“We are planning to equip the IRGC’s speedboats with radar-evading stealth technology while
increasing their speed in order to conduct their missions,” the Iranian commander said, adding that
“new missiles moving at very high speed are being installed on the IRGC’s naval vessels.”
Tangsiri noted that the IRGC has currently the fastest speedboats in the world, saying,
"We are working on speedboats with the speed of 80 knots [per hour] and more than that, and
we will start to build speedboats with the speed of over 80 knots [per hour] in the near future."
Over the past years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and
attained self-sufficiency in producing military equipment
and hardware despite sanctions and economic pressures on the country.
The Islamic Republic maintains that its military power poses no threat to other
countries and is merely attentive to its military doctrine of deterrence.
Elsewhere in the interview, the top IRGC commander pointed to the return
of US aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis to the Persian Gulf earlier this month and said,
"We are constantly monitoring them and have full command on these foreign forces."
Tangsiri emphasized that the presence of foreign forces in the region disturbs security,
noting that regional countries are capable of guaranteeing their
security through staging joint military maneuvers and boosting cooperation.
In reaction to the return of the US aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf after a long absence,
a senior Iranian commander said last week that Iran will never allow US
warships to sail near its territorial waters,
reiterating once again that the Islamic Republic is ready to respond to any action by Washington.
"The response of the Armed Forces and the Army of the Islamic Republic is that
we will never allow them [US warships] to come near our territorial waters," Deputy
Chief of Iran's Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said.
He added that the presence of the USS John C. Stennis is insignificant to Iran,
saying, "They cannot take any measure against us, because we are so prepared
and have enough capabilities to stand up to such a publicity stunt."
Coincident with the arrival of the US aircraft carrier, the IRGC held the main
and final stage of massive exercises, dubbed the Great Prophet 12, in the Persian Gulf,
launching an “offensive” component in Iran's defensive strategy for the first time.
The annual exercise enlisted the IRGC Ground Force’s elite units, including
the rapid response unit, the special forces, commandos, combat and reconnaissance drones,
the electronic warfare unit, engineering corps, and the Zolfaqar fast patrol craft.
Iran has repeatedly warned that any act of trespassing on its
territorial waters would be met with an immediate and befitting response.
The US 5th Fleet is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf with carriers,
ships, strike aircraft, sailors and marines and has been involved
in occasional confrontations with Iranian forces.
The IRGC in July 2017 reported a second provocation by US warships in the Persian
Gulf waters less than a week after a similar incident in the same region.
Speaking to the Associated Press on Monday, the unnamed US official said the speedboats,
allegedly belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), came within 550 meters of
USNS Invincible and its three-ship entourage from the UK Royal Navy in the Strait of Hormuz.
Describing the incident, which apparently happened on Saturday,
as “unprofessional and dangerous,” the official said the American and British
vessels had changed their course after failing to communicate with the other vessels over radio.
Equipped with highly sophisticated radars and other advanced systems,
USNS Invincible is a tracking ship that monitors missile launches and sends
important data back to the command center. It can measure such data as a missile’s accuracy.
In September last year, the Pentagon’s spokesman Captain Jeff Davis reported a similar encounter,
where the USS Firebolt patrol boat changed its course after a
speedboat operated by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps came within 91 meters of it.
Back then, Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan
vowed that Tehran would not let any intrusion go unanswered.
Iran issued another serious warning in early February, when British and American naval
vessels held maritime military exercises in the Persian Gulf with France and Australia
to simulate targeting Iranian combat jets, ships and coastal missile launch facilities.