Iran Sending Warships Close to US Waters in the Atlantic
The 13,000-ton vessel is named after a mountain in northern Iran has joined the Islamic republic’s naval fleet recently in December.
The Iranian navy is going to deploy warships in the Atlantic from March, as the Islamic Republic seeks to increase its operating range of its naval forces at the backyard of the United States, its archrival. While, the presence of US aircraft carriers in the Gulf is a security concern for Iran, its navy has sought to counter that by showing the flag near American waters now.
The Iranian Naval Deputy Commander, Rear Admiral Touraj Hassani has said, that a flotilla would leave for the Atlantic early in the Iranian New Year, which starts from March. Rear Admiral Touraj Hassani has said, “The Atlantic Ocean is far and the operation of the Iranian naval flotilla might take five months”.
The 13,000-ton vessel is named after a mountain in northern Iran has joined the Islamic republic’s naval fleet recently in December. The announcement to deploy flotilla is intended to boost Iran’s military image amid increasing tensions with the United States, which in November re-imposed all the sanctions, which are lifted under the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in 2015.
At the same time in December, United States deployed an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, breaking the long carrier absence in the volatile region since the 11th September terror attacks.
Rear Admiral Touraj Hassani also informed that Sahand, a newly built destroyer, would be one of the warships, which will also be deployed. Sahand has features like, a flight deck for helicopters and is equipped with anti-aircraft and anti-ship guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and electronic warfare capabilities.
Meanwhile, a senior Iranian military official said that the navy could sail in the Atlantic near the US waters since US aircraft carriers were allowed to move around in international waters near Iran.
In recent years, Iran’s navy has extended its reach by launching vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates. But in past few months, the relationship between the US and Iran has deteriorated ever since US President Donald Trump took Washington out of a world powers nuclear deal with Iran in May and reimposed sanctions on Iran’s banking and energy sectors.
Iran also warned that if it cannot sell its oil due to US pressures, it would also not allow any other regional country to sell their oil by threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, through which the one-third of the world’s oil is transported.