Deputy Commander Says IRGC Will Chase US Troops Even to Gulf of Mexico In Case of Attack

“I declare now that if the enemy wants to spark a war against Iran, we will chase them even to the Gulf of Mexico and we will (certainly) do it,” Tangsiri told FNA on Monday.

He downplayed enemies’ war rhetoric against Iran, and said, “They have tested us once and if necessary, there are people who will blow up themselves with ammunitions to destroy the US warships.”

Tangsiri referred to the IRGC’s detention of four US military men and two Kuwaitis in the Persian Gulf almost 13 years ago sailing on two boats equipped with different state-of-the-art weapons who intended to cross Arvand river in Southern Iran, and said, “The footage and their equipment (seized by Iran) still exist but we didn’t publicize it for security reasons.”

He said when the American forces found out that the IRGC forces were approaching them, they surrendered without any resistance, adding that they were under detention for four days.

Tangsiri also referred to the IRGC’s hi-tech weapons and equipment, and said they include vessels, missiles, rocket-launchers and some more new weapons.

He underlined the necessity for arming the entire Iranian coasts with the state-of-the-art weapons, and said, “We have dug tunnels all the along the Southern parts of the country and there are so many of these tunnels that the enemy cannot imagine.”

Tangsiri pointed to the home-made torpedo vessel, ‘Zolfaqar’, unveiled in an exhibition in Tehran on October 3, and said that Zolfaqar is a submersible vessel.

There is also a semi-submersible vessel which is equipped with torpedos and radar systems.

He also underscored Iran’s missile power, and said the IRGC vessels are equipped with the home-made high-precision air-based cruise missiles, Nasr and Zafar, that can be fired from small vessels.

“The missiles that we have now can hit the targets with a higher precision than their foreign counterparts, including even the Israeli missiles and the (anti-ship cruise) Penguin missiles,” Tangsiri said.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said all US military bases in the Middle-East are within the range of the IRGC’s missiles, but the country still sees no restriction for boosting its missile capabilities.

“Some of the threats by the US are aimed at appeasing the Zionists, while others are for the purpose of domestic consumption (in the US), but what is important is that they are aware of and acknowledge our capabilities and deterrence power; we do not feel any need to increase the range of our missiles and (our perceived enemy) targets are fully within the range of our missiles,” Brigadier General Hajizadeh said, addressing a group of professors of Iran’s Science and Technology University in Tehran.

He pointed to the allegations made about imposing restrictions on Iran’s missile technology, and said, “We do not see any restriction for our missiles and the IRGC’s preparedness and missile drills are conducted without a halt and according to our annual time-table, but only some of them are publicized through the media.”

Brigadier General Hajizadeh pointed to Iran’s self-sufficiency in the missile technology, and said, “Today, all surface-to-surface missiles are fully built in Iran (from idea to finished product), different communications and wireless systems are (also) made inside the country and we do not need to buy radar systems from abroad.”

In relevant remarks in late September, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi stressed that the US is aware of its imminent loss and casualties in case it sparks a new war in the Persian Gulf and it, thus, obeys Iran’s orders in the regional waters.

“The US knows that the damages of any war and firing bullets in the Persian Gulf cannot be compared with its benefits at all,” Fadavi told reporters on the sidelines of the annual nationwide parades at the mausoleum of the Founder of the Islamic Republic, the Late Imam Khomeini, South of Tehran.

“The US is obedient and passive in the Persian Gulf and we impose our sovereignty right in the Persian Gulf very powerfully,” he added.

Also in May, Fadavi announced that the US forces and warships in the Persian Gulf complied with the orders of the Iranian naval forces deployed in the region.

“We observe confrontations and, as a matter of fact, debates between Iran and the foreign vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz on a daily basis and they always comply,” Fadavi told reporters in Tehran.

Noting that the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s territorial waters were at present the most secure geographical waters in the world, he said, “At present different types of foreign military vessels and 40 US warships and logistic ships are present in these regions but certainly, security is established there due to the measures adopted by our forces.”

His comments came after a senior Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander also announced in May that the IRGC Navy drones and boats were constantly recording movements of the US warships deployed in the Persian Gulf.

“The presence of the US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf is meant to intimidate such fake regimes as the al-Saud since our forces don’t feel any fear at all and are constantly taking footage of the warships when they are on their 15-meter boats and by means of drones,” Commander of IRGC Navy’s Salman 26 Missile Brigade General Abdolreza Vajdian said.

He said that different massive drills that the Iranian Armed Forces stage are monitored by the Americans and they are aware of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power.