The IRGC Navy said in a statement on Tuesday that IRGC boats did not act unprofessionally and while they were conducting a regular and conventional operation, they encountered seven American Navy vessels committing “provocative, gratuitous and unprofessional behaviors such as flying helicopters, firing flares and aimless shooting.”

The statement said the IRGC boats maintained a legal distance from the American vessels in accordance with international maritime regulations and warned them against “dangerous and unprofessional behavior.”

The IRGC Navy statement came a day after Pentagon press secretary John Kirby accused Iran of committing “harassment” against the American navy in the Strait of Hormuz. Kirby claimed that the Iranian vessels maneuvered at high speed toward six U.S. Navy ships in the Strait. According to Kirby, the encounter led to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter firing two volleys of warning shots as Iranian boats sped toward the U.S. vessels.

But the IRGC statement said Kirby’s account of the encounter was “untrue” and aimed to create a perception of American responsibility toward preventing miscalculations.

“The Americans must avoid untrue stories and unprofessional behaviors and seriously abide by international regulations as well as the maritime and band control laws in the strategic region of the Hormuz Strait and the Persian Gulf,” the statement said.

The IRGC Navy also said it will continue its missions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf and it is ready to “decisively and courageously respond to any miscalculations on their [Americans] part.”

The Monday encounter also elicited a response from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who asked the U.S. Coast Guard that whose coast they are supposed to guard.

“@USCG: Exactly whose coast are you supposed to be ‘guarding’?” he asked on Twitter.

Zarif’s tweet reflects a longstanding Iranian policy that the U.S. should move away from the West Asia region, especially the Persian Gulf where the U.S. has deployed a remarkable number of military assets. Iran has called on the Persian Gulf’s Arab states to enter dialogue on how to secure the region’s security without the presence of foreign military troops. To this end, Iran has presented the Hormuz Peace Endeavor, an initiative aimed at maintaining security in the Persian Gulf through cooperation among its littoral states.

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These light, fast, and attack speedboats were built in the centers affiliated with the IRGC navy and in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense.

Last Month, Rear-Admiral Alireza Tangsiri made the remarks on the 5th anniversary of capturing 10 American marines by the IRGC Navy near the Iranian Farsi Island.

“Five years ago two American boats carrying ten marines heading for Bahrain approached the five-mile distance of Iran’s Farsi Island on their way, which is within the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic, and although there were two American and French super-carriers and five other destroyers in the region, the intruding U.S. boats were seized by the brave Guard’s naval forces,” Fars quoted Tangsiri as saying.

On January 12, 2016, the IRGC seized two U.S. Navy boats and detained ten U.S. marines on board on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. The marines were captured for illegally entering into Iranian territorial waters. They freed the marines one day later.

An investigation was conducted by the IRGC right after the detention and the results showed that American marines had gone astray during their voyage in the Persian Gulf. The IRGC declared in a statement that “it has released the U.S. Marines and their vessels in international waters” after it became clear that the illegal entry was not a deliberate act.

“The Americans have undertaken not to repeat such mistakes,” it said, adding, “The captured marines were released in international waters.”

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According To Iran News, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says it plans to set up a “permanent base” in the Indian Ocean in order to expand its presence across world oceans as per a directive by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

The Leader has tasked the corps with maintaining a presence in the waters that lie far away from the country, obligating such a presence to be a permanent one, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri told Fars news agency from the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the agency reported on Monday.

The presence would seek to utilize the capacities that are owned by the country’s strategic naval force, the commander said.

Accordingly, the IRGC “is planning to create a permanent base in the Indian Ocean and will operationalize this by the end of the Persian calendar year” in March 2021, he added.

The Islamic Republic’s Navy has repeatedly conducted maritime assignments, Tangsiri noted, adding the IRGC Navy has so far dispatched two naval groups to the Indian Ocean.

The IRGC Navy boasts a 35-year history of defending the country’s territorial waters against acts of mischief by foreign naval forces, including recurrent instances, when it has warned away the United States Navy’s transgressing vessels or unprofessional and provocative behavior.

The commander recalled how pirates and some foreign vessels had, in the past, created disturbances for Iranian trawlers and dhows in the Sea of Oman and the entrance to the Indian Ocean.

“Through its powerful presence in the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, the Corps will no longer leave any room for such acts of infringement,” he asserted.

The Corps has carried out all the detailed planning and calculations that are required to enable “a powerful and steadfast presence” in the oceanic area in order to further empower Iranian fishermen’s future activities there, Tangsiri concluded.

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IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – In a statement on Sunday, the IRGC Navy refuted the American account of what happened in an encounter between the Iranian forces and the US terrorists in the northern parts of the Persian Gulf on April 15, saying the U.S. Fifth Fleet has provided an “untrue, purposeful and Hollywood-style” description of the event.

The statement came after the U.S. claimed that Iran’s naval vessels had come within 10 yards of American warships in the Persian Gulf in what the US navy described as a series of “dangerous and harassing approaches”. The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command has said that 11 small Iranian boats circled six U.S. warships.

In its statement, the IRGC Navy denounced a repetition of “unprofessional” maneuvers by the “terrorist U.S. naval forces” in the Persian Gulf in recent weeks, saying they have intercepted Iranian ship “Shahid Siavashi” twice, on April 6 and 7.

In order to prevent such “illegal, unprofessional, dangerous and adventurist” moves from the US, ensure the security of Iranian vessels, and fight against the smuggling of fuel, the IRGC Navy increased its patrol units in the Persian Gulf, announced a shooting practice situation and defined the exercise zone on the map, the statement noted.

When a fleet of 11 IRGC Navy boats were deployed to the exercise zone, they encountered the American warships and military vessels, it said, adding that the Americans made “unprofessional and provocative moves” and ignored the warnings from the IRGC forces, but the Iranians forced them to sail out of the path of the IRGC boats.

The IRGC advised the U.S. to respect the international maritime protocols in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, avoid adventurism and fake stories, and be aware that Iran’s military forces consider dangerous moves from outsiders as a red line and a threat to the country’s national security.

Warning the U.S. of Iran’s “decisive response” to any miscalculation, the IRGC Navy said, “The illegitimate presence of the terrorist U.S. regime is the root cause of evil and insecurity in the region, and the only way to strengthen sustainable security in this strategic region is for the Americans to withdraw from West Asia.”

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The crew of the smuggling fuel ship, which was confiscated 20 miles off the Iranian Greater Tunb island in the Persian Gulf, have been handed over to the judicial authorities to undergo  legal proceedings.

The report added that the smugglers said during the interrogation that they had loaded the cargo at the Sang Salameh region and they were carrying it to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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It further notes that these ships have caught a total of 222 tons of different fishes.

“IRGC Navy has established a maritime Basij and its patrols are strongly confronting any illegal fishing which creates problems for the living of the local people,” it adds.

Back in February, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri has warned against illegal fishing in Iran waters in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea region. “A Navy Basij has been formed which is in charge of 2,200 km coastal region of Hormozgan and Operational Zone 1 of IRGC Navy,” he said. Navy Basij, which is the extension of the Basij forces, is formed to protect the rights of the fishermen, to strengthen sustainable and people-centered security and to defend and protect the coast against foreigners, added Tangsiri.

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Tensions have spiked between Iran and the U.S. in the Persian Gulf after the U.S. announced plans to form a military coalition to counter what it calls the “Iran threat”.

Only Israel and the UK have welcomed the call, which has been rejected by other allies of Washington.

The U.S. claims Tehran has played a role in two attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in May and June, which Iran has categorically denied.

“Today, we can establish security in the Persian Gulf through the empathy and convergence of other countries,” Tangsiri said.

“Iran is the flag-bearer of establishing security beyond its borders in the Indian Ocean and other regions,” he stressed.

He further said that the seven countries to the south of the Persian Gulf plus Iran were fully capable of establishing security in the region.

Israel’s welcoming of the U.S. plan has been met with condemnations by Iranian officials and commanders.

In an interview with the Lebanese TV channel Al Mayadeen last week, Tangsiri warned that any Israeli presence in the Persian Gulf may result in a war in the region, and the responsibility for the consequences of such illegal presence lies with the U.S. and the UK.

“The United States and the United Kingdom must assume responsibility for the Zionist regime’s illegal presence in the Persian Gulf waters,” he warned.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi also warned that the Islamic Republic considers possible Israeli presence in the U.S.-led coalition as a clear threat to its national security, and reserves the right to counter it.

“The U.S. regime and the illegitimate Zionist regime are responsible for all the consequences of this dangerous move,” the spokesman added.

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