IRGC Commander Categorically Dismisses Firing Rockets at US Carrier in Persian Gulf

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri strongly dismissed media claims that his forces have fired rockets near the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier which arrived in the Persian Gulf on Friday.

News ID: 442594

Date: 24 December 2018 - 13:00

RNA - "The propaganda and some reports by the foreign media about missile fire at the US fleet deployed in the Persian Gulf during the Payambar-e Azam 12 wargames by the IRGC is a sheer lie and the Americans are used to telling lies," General Tangsiri told reporters on Qeshm Island on the sidelines of the IRGC drills in the Persian Gulf on Saturday.

He added that the IRGC vessels monitored the US fleet, and further stressed the Iranian drones' capability to monitor any foreign vessel which enters the region and preparedness of the country's forces to confront any threats.

"Our responsibility is defending the waters of Islamic Iran and we are present in the region with strength and full intelligence superiority," General Tangsiri said.

He underlined that the IRGC had earlier announced its plans to stage wargames in the region, adding, "The enemies are sensitive to our drills."

General Tangsiri said that deployment of foreign forces in the region is harming security, saying that Iran in cooperation with the neighboring states is able to establish full security in the Persian Gulf region.

"The enemy should know that the foreign forces' presence will every day make us stronger and more prepared than the past," he added.

A US aircraft carrier sailed into the Persian Gulf on Friday, becoming the first since America’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and breaking the longest carrier absence in the volatile region since at least the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The AP had reported on Saturday that the "Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels shadowed the Stennis and its strike group, at one point launching rockets away from it and flying a drone nearby".

The US military operates bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as a major Army base in Kuwait and its Navy base in Bahrain. The US has established over 40 military bases in the region.

Commander of Iran's Khatam ol-Anbia Headquarters Major General Gholam Ali Rashid warned the regional states which host the trans-regional countries' military personnel of costs they should pay for provoking acts.

"We try to have good and brotherly relations with all our neighbors because we consider neighbors as (to be contributing to) our security but I, as the commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Headquarters, warn from this scene and the ground for the ongoing drills by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), that any country which paves the ground for the arrogant powers' interferences in the region, in the first stage, it will pay the most costs for its unfriendly and provoking behaviors," General Rashid said on the sidelines of the IRGC wargames in Qeshm Island and the Persian Gulf region on Saturday.

He underlined that the Iranian Armed Forces permanently monitored and assessed enemies' moves in the region and were fully prepared to use their power to confront any threats.

"Iran's defense power is always ready and growing to confront any provoking and interfering acts in the region to defend the great causes and goals of the Islamic Revolution and the national interests," General Rashid said.

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