Iranian navy chief's warning: Any Israeli presence in Gulf could 'spark war'!

The Times of Israel
Sun, 11 Aug 2019 10:52 UTC

© Screen capture/YouTube

IRGC Commander Alireza Tangsiri

The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy, Alireza Tangsiri, warned Sunday that "any illegitimate presence by the Zionists in the waters of the Persian Gulf could spark a war."

His remark followed reports on Israel potentially taking part in a US-led international mission to secure Western vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran seized several oil tankers, amid escalating tensions over US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

In an interview to the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen television station in Lebanon, Tangsiri warned that "whenever our commanders wish so, they are able to detain any ship, even if it is accompanied by American and British forces."

Last week, the Ynet news site reported that Foreign Minister Israel Katz had told a closed session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel was involved in US-led efforts to provide maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz.

Katz said Israel was assisting the mission to secure the crucial waterway with intelligence and in other unspecified fields. He stressed the mission was in Israel's strategic interest of countering Iran and boosting ties with Gulf countries.

Responding to Katz's comments, Iran's defense minister on Thursday said that the formation of a US-led flotilla would "increase insecurity" and any Israeli involvement would have "disastrous consequences" for the region.

Tehran and Washington have been locked in a battle of nerves since US President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year and reimposed sanctions.

Tensions have soared in the region, with drones downed and tankers mysteriously attacked in Gulf waters.

The US and its Gulf allies have accused the Islamic Republic of the tanker attacks — allegation that Tehran denies. In response, the US has been seeking to form a coalition whose mission — dubbed Operation Sentinel — it says is to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Gulf.

Besides Britain, which already has warships on protection duty in the Gulf after a UK-flagged tanker was seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, other European countries have refrained from joining the planned operation for fear it might harm their efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with Iran.

Iran has seized three tankers in the Gulf since last month, including the British-flagged vessel. The ship seizures came after British Royal Marines helped to impound a tanker carrying Iranian oil off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on July 4, alleging it was destined for EU-sanctioned Syria, an accusation Iran denies.

Comment: From RT, 12/8/2019: Flooding Persian Gulf with weapons - a 'matchbox ready to ignite' -Zarif

The US and their allies are damaging security in the Persian Gulf by "flooding" the region with arms, and sending a US-led naval force there will make the situation worse, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

US foreign policy undermines the security of the countries around the Persian Gulf, Zarif said on Monday during a trip to Qatar. "The region has become a matchbox ready to ignite because America and its allies are flooding it with weapons."

Iranian officials have been accusing Washington and its key overseas partners like Saudi Arabia of destabilizing the situation in the Middle East by training and arming various anti-government militant groups in Syria.

Zarif argued that the presence of the US-led task force will only exacerbate the situation. The narrow Gulf waterway "will become less safe as foreign [navy] vessels increase their presence in it," he said.

The diplomat stressed that the security in the region must be maintained by littoral countries, not outside powers.

From Sputnik 12/8/2019: 'We're here to deter Iran, but ready to strike if ordered'

US officers on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, deployed at an American naval base in Bahrain along with some smaller vessels, claimed in an interview with Sky News that their mission is to deter Iran from striking US targets, but added that they were also ready to launch offensive strikes if ordered.

"A large part of deterrence is the readiness that backs that deterrence up. We are ready to defend the US and the US interests if called upon... My job is to be here, to be ready, to deter and to defend if required", Rear Admiral Michael Boyle, commander of Carrier Strike Group 12, said.

Despite the highly publicised deployment, the aircraft carrier has not passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway linking Mideast crude producers to crucial world markets.

"For our mission here, which is deterrence, we are in the place we need to be. The people in the know in Iran know that we are more of a deterrent here than we are in the Arabian Gulf because from this position we can reach them and they can't reach us. In a boxer's analogy we have got overreach from the spot where we are right now", Boyle added.

Sputnik adds, 8/12/2019 FM: Iraq warns against Israeli involvement

Iraq rejects the participation of Israel in the US-led maritime security mission in the Persian Gulf, Foreign Minister Mohamad Alhakim stated, stressing that it might further increase tensions in the region.

"Iraq is against the participation of the Zionist regime's forces in any kind of patrolling to ensure the save passage of ships in the Persian Gulf", Alhakim said on Twitter.

He added that Iraq was "seeking to reduce tensions in the region through negotiations, while the presence of Western forces in the region is increasing them".