The commander of Iran’s Navy has accused the Gulf of Aden littoral states of attempting to disrupt the presence of Iranian naval flotillas in high seas, but he emphasized that the Iranian forces will continue their naval missions in the Gulf of Aden and in international waters beyond the region without paying attention to such “hostile” attempts. “Today, the Gulf of Aden littoral states have joined hands to prevent our naval flotillas from docking in there with the purpose of indirectly blocking our presence in high seas and international waters,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in a ceremony marking the start of the 47th Navy flotilla’s mission. The 47th flotilla, which includes Alborz destroyer and Bushehr logistic warship, left the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on Sunday and is scheduled to sail into the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.
Comment: In recent years, the Iranian naval forces have significantly increased their presence in international waters. In April, Iran dispatched a flotilla of warships, which included intelligence-operations and logistics vessels, to the Gulf of Aden. The I.R.G.C. outlet pointed out that the deployment of naval forces to the Gulf of Aden was aimed at ensuring the security of naval routes for Iranian merchant vessels and oil tankers as well as “confronting the enemies’ negative propaganda and Iranophobic projects.”
The deployment of the Iranian flotillas comes amid increasing concern raised by the United States and the Saudi-led coalition about Iran’s support to the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen. It is also part of the Islamic Republic’s broader plan to increase its naval presence in international waters in the region and beyond. In a speech at the Khoramshahr Naval Base in southwest Iran in March, Sayyari said that his forces “will have stronger presence in international waters, expand the area of the naval maneuvers, and develop production of equipment” in the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21. And last November, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, triggered alarm in the region after he said Iran sought to set up naval bases in Yemen and Syria.
U.S. naval officials have in recent months repeatedly complained about Iran’s hostile maritime actions that disrupt international navigation in the Persian Gulf. They have also warned that Iran’s provocative naval maneuvers increase the chance of miscalculation and unintended confrontation in the Gulf region.
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