Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) for Political Affairs Brigadier General Rasoul Sanaei-Rad warned that US naval forces’ recent acts in the Persian Gulf could have serious repercussions for Washington.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Saturday, Brigadier General Sanaei-Rad denounced a recent move by US warships to approach IRGC vessels in the Persian Gulf as “provocative”.
“The Americans’ move is a kind of unprofessional behavior,” he said, adding that the US naval forces in the Persian Gulf are exhibiting such behavior without considering regional conditions.
Such moves “can have severe consequences for the Americans and the region”, the commander cautioned.
In a statement released on Saturday, the IRGC Navy’s Zolfaqar flotilla, operating in the Persian Gulf, said the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and an accompanying warship approached the IRGC vessels in the vicinity of Resalat oil-gas zone at 4 pm local time on Friday, and flew a helicopter near the vessels.
The US warships were being monitored and tracked by the Zolfaqar flotilla’s corvettes, the statement noted, saying the incident occurred only a few days after another American warship had fired shots into the air to warn an IRGC patrol vessel in the Persian Gulf.
“In a provocative and unprofessional action, the Americans fired flares to warn the Zolfaqar flotilla vessels,” the statement added, saying, however, that the IRGC naval forces continued their mission in the zone in the regular manner, disregarding the “unconventional and unusual” moves by the US forces.
The American aircraft carrier and its accompanying warship left the area afterwards, it added.
In a similar incident on Tuesday, the USS Thunderbolt fired warning shots at Iranian navy boats operating in the Persian Gulf.
In remarks in June 2016, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined that security of the Persian Gulf region comes within the purview of the regional countries alone, and dismissed the US claim of seeking security in the region.
“The Persian Gulf security relates to the countries of the region which have common interests, and not to the US. So, security of the Persian Gulf region should be provided by the countries of this region itself,” the Leader stressed.
(TNA)
