Commander: IRGC Navy Can Sink US Warships in A Twinkling of An Eye

A top Iranian navy commander said his forces have been drilling how to destroy US warships for the last several years, underlining that the IRGC Navy can sink a US aircraft carrier in less than a minute.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with FNA, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said the US air combat power overseas is totally dependent on the fighter jets flying from its aircraft carriers, and this has made these vessels a natural and high value target for the IRGC Navy in any possible war.

IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi

The Admiral said his forces have, thus, been conducting routine drills on how to sink US vessels in any potential combat, specially in the Persian Gulf, adding that they have gained good knowledge of the “design, construction and structure of the US warships”.

He said Iran has produced “replicas of the US aircraft carriers” for IRGC Navy drills. The Admiral, then, pointed to a CNN report in mid-March that Iran is building a replica of a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and said “the US media and research centers commented on the revelation very simplemindedly”.

“They (Americans) know nothing. We have been making and sinking replicas of US destroyers, frigates and warships for long years, and we have sunk the replica of their vessels in 50 seconds through a series of operational measures,” added Fadavi.

“We practice the same drills on replica aircraft carriers because sinking and destroying US warships has, is and will be on our agenda,” he reiterated.

He further said such drills have been conducted on a replica of a US warship 202m in length.

The CNN report said satellite photos showed what looked like one of the US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, complete with planes, rising from Iran’s Gachin shipyard, near the port of Bandar Abbas on the rims of the Persian Gulf.

The Admiral, whose forces are in charge of security in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, said when the US vessels intend to ferry across the waterway, they are contacted by the IRGC Navy troops who ask for the vessels’ identity, purpose, and trafficking plan, and added, “If the US warships decline to respond, they will come to realize right-away that a large number of our vessels have surrounded them and/or our missiles are locked on them.”

“This, of course, does not happen generally,” he explained, adding that his forces are in full control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the strategic Persian Gulf waterway, is a major oil shipping route.

Fadavi had last week said that security in the Persian Gulf can only be established by the regional countries and deployment of the US and its allies’ forces in the region has provoked insecurity.

“The presence of the US and the arrogant powers creates insecurity in the Persian Gulf since they are after their arrogant goals which are in opposition to the interests of the regional people,” Fadavi told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday.

Stressing that security of the Strait of Hormuz should and can only be established by the regional states, he said, “The capability of the IRGC Navy is also playing a highly special role in the establishment of security in the Strait of Hormuz.”