© AP Photo / Ebrahim Noroozi
The reports come just a few weeks after the United States deployed an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Persian Gulf in what White House National Security Adviser John Bolton described as a "clear and unmistakable message" to Iran.
A video has emerged on social media allegedly showing Iranian vehicles transporting its S-300 air defence systems and other military equipment to the coastal city of Asaluyeh in the southern province of Bushehr - an area along the Persian Gulf.The country's military has yet to confirm or deny the redeployment of the anti-missile systems.
The purported development comes amid simmering tensions with the United States, which has recently dispatched the USS
Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Gulf to send a message to Tehran.
Senior Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that the Islamic Republic doesn't seek war with the US, but will continue to resist its pressure.
The country's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told CNN that Washington was playing a "very, very dangerous game" by boosting its military presence in the region.
"Having all these military assets in a small waterway is in and of itself prone to accident, particularly when you have people who are interested in accidents. So extreme prudence is required and the United States is playing a very, very dangerous game", he said.
Relations between Iran and the US were exacerbated by Washington's unilateral pull-out from the 2015 nuclear agreement and reintroduction of all anti-Tehran sanctions.
On 8 May 2019 - exactly a year after the US withdrawal - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran would partially suspend its obligations under the deal, having given the five remaining signatories - France, Russia, the UK, Germany, and China - a 60-day deadline to take measures towards ensuring Tehran's interests in the face of US penalties.
Comment: Sputnik reports that the IRGC is monitoring US build up in the region. But it's not just the US the IRGC that is a cause for concern, because, following the
attacks on Saudi tankers in Fujairah, a number of Arab countries have ramped up patrols in
cooperation with the US too:
© AFP 2019 / IRNA
The Iranian armed forces are monitoring the activities of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf, Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Wednesday.
"The [US] military vessels, which are in the Persian Gulf, are under full control of the IRGC Navy and Army. There are no reasons for concern", Fadavi said, as quoted by the Fars news agency.
The United States has in recent weeks bolstered its forces in the Middle East, in what US National Security Adviser John Bolton has called a clear and unmistakable message to Iran.
New US deployments in the region include an aircraft carrier strike group, Patriot missiles, B-52 bombers and F-15 fighters, according to the Pentagon.
As noted by Pepe Escobar in
Iran squeezed between imperial psychos and European cowards:
Professor Mohammad Marandi at the Faculty of World Studies of the University of Tehran offers quite a sobering perspective: "After 60 days Iran will push things even further. I don't think the Iranians are bluffing. They will also be pushing back at the Saudis and the Emiratis by different means."
Marandi, ominously, sees "further escalation" ahead:
"Iranians have been preparing for war with the Unites States ever since the Iraq invasion in 2003. After what they've seen in Libya, in Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, they know that the Americans and Europeans are utterly brutal. The whole shore of the Persian Gulf on the Iranian side and the Gulf of Oman is full of tunnels and underground high-tech missiles. The Persian Gulf is full of ships equipped with highly developed sea-to-sea missiles. If there is real war, all the oil and gas facilities in the region will be destroyed, all the tankers will be destroyed."
See also:
Comment: Sputnik reports that the IRGC is monitoring US build up in the region. But it's not just the US the IRGC that is a cause for concern, because, following the attacks on Saudi tankers in Fujairah, a number of Arab countries have ramped up patrols in cooperation with the US too: As noted by Pepe Escobar in Iran squeezed between imperial psychos and European cowards: See also: