IRGC Commander:

US Naval Buildup in Persian Gulf Aimed at Deceiving Regional States

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said dispatch of aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf to allegedly protect the United States' allies in the region is a move by Washington to deceive the regional states.

News ID: 442603

Date: 24 December 2018 - 16:12

RNA - "The presence of this fleet of warships is aimed at deceiving the regional states and pretending that they establish security for these countries," General Jafari said on Qeshm Island on Saturday on the sidelines of the IRGC wargames in the Persian Gulf.

The claim that "deployment of the fleet is aimed at establishing security for the regional states is kind of deception and we hope that these countries will not be fooled by the enemy", 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 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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