Real Admiral Ali Fadavi, naval commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, said on Monday new weapons will be rolled out in upcoming war drills in the Persian Gulf. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Guard\u2019s naval force is in good conditions, exemplarily prepared, and tries to unveil its newest equipment in the upcoming exercises,\u201d Fadavi told reporters in the southern port city of Bushehr, which sits on the coasts of the Persian Gulf. <\/p>\n
The comments follow two incidents in the Persian Gulf between IRGC and U.S. navies last week, one on Tuesday and the other on Friday. <\/p>\n
While the IRGC navy castigated the U.S. Navy for acting \u201cprovocatively\u201d and \u201cunprofessionally\u201d in both incidents, the U.S. navy\u2019s Bahrain-based fifth fleet has claimed its encounters had been \u201csafe and professional\u201d.<\/p>\n
Years of hostility between Tehran and Washington eased slightly near the end of the Obama administration, as sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program were lifted under an international nuclear agreement.<\/p>\n
However, Donald Trump\u2019s victory in 2016 U.S. presidential election gave new fuel to the long-standing enmity due to his periodic anti-Iran rhetoric and actions.
\nDuring his presidential campaign, Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that harassed the U.S. navy in the Persian Gulf would be \u201cshot out of the water\u201d.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Navy presence in the Persian Gulf, Iran says, has jeopardized the security and stability of the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil trade passes by sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Guards entirely controls the Persian Gulf as an international waterway, and its dominance and authority over the waterway is growing day by day given its increasing power,\u201d Fadavi said, implicitly hinting at the incidents. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Real Admiral Ali Fadavi, naval commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, said on Monday new weapons will be rolled out in upcoming war drills in the Persian Gulf. \u201cThe Guard\u2019s naval force is in good conditions, exemplarily prepared, and tries to unveil its newest equipment in the upcoming exercises,\u201d Fadavi told reporters in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,6],"tags":[87,85,88,84,86],"yoast_head":"\n