Commander: No Warship Allowed to Approach Iran’s Territorial Water

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Iran has a close watch on foreign warships’ movements in the regional waters, adding that the Navy has so far prevented warships from approaching the country’s borders.

“All movements by regional and trans-regional warships are under our constant watch from the moment they enter our specified zone until they enter the Persian Gulf (protected by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)) and we have not allowed anyone to come close to our borders,” Sayyari told reporters here in Tehran on the verge of the National Day of the Navy.

“What is clear is that no aircraft carrier has the right to get close to Iran’s borders and they (the US warships) just use free waters based on our mutual agreement with some (regional) countries and only go to those countries,” Sayyari stated.

Commenting on reports about the deployment of US Stennis Aircraft Carrier in the Persian Gulf, which comes 4 months ahead of the schedule, Sayyari said that the early deployment of the USS Stennis happened “due to the technical failure of the previous aircraft carrier which has recently left the region”.

In relevant remarks in July, Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Brigadier General Hossein Salami said IRGC commanders see the US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf as nothing more than “rusty iron”.

“IRGC members are never intimidated by the hugeness of the aircraft carriers and roaring of the missiles of the US and trans-regional enemies and these equipments are nothing more than rusty iron in their eyes,” General Salami said at the time.

In May 2012, another IRGC commander announced that the IRGC naval forces monitoring foreign military moves in the Persian Gulf have recorded an almost one-hour-long video of a US aircraft carrier from a very close distance.

“Forces of the IRGC’s second naval zone have recoded a 50-minute video of a US aircraft carrier from 500-meter distance,” Commander of the IRGC’s Second Naval Zone Ali Razmjou said at the time.