Revolutionary Guards Navy Positioned in Bandar-Abbas

While military officials have downplayed the recent military movements in the region and the intensification of military threats against the country, eve dismissing them as “America’s repetitive threats against the Islamic Republic,” the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) navy chief said yesterday in an interview, “The IRGC’s navy is been fully positioned in Bandar-Abbas and has the capability to carry out its assigned functions and can respond to threats of extra-regional enemies.”

Ali Fadavi, the IRGC’s navy chief, who was appointed last spring by the supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei, added, “The Persian Gulf region is an essential waterway for supplying the world’s energy demand and the security of this region is essential and important for the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a result, the IRGC’s naval force will respond to naval-based enemy threats with full preparation and absolute force, striking the enemy from all positions and from all sides in case of war.”

This senior commander, who previously held intelligence and security posts at the IRGC, noted, “The possibility of an attack is not important for us,” adding, “Undoubtedly we will not be in a location to be available for a strike during a war, but we are present everywhere to strike our enemy. I emphasize that the preemption factor is for the enemy to be certain that the cost of war exceeds its benefits.”

On Sunday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s defense minister announced the positioning of military equipment, including four submarines capable of launching missiles and a Mersad missile base, at several IRGS and army bases in southern Iran.

The full positioning of the IRGC’s naval base in southern Iran along with various IRGC and army brigades and equipment follows another recent announcement by Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, head of the Islamic Republic army’s ground forces, of the implementation of the “armed earth” tactic in vast areas of southern Iran.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces Joint Chief of Staff, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, reacted to military threats in the region from a different perspective.

Responding to remarks by Admiral Mike Mullen, the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Firouzabadi said, “Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. armed forces [army] said again that the military option is on the table, after some American officials had taken the military option off the table.”

Firouzabadi added, “If the military option was not on the table, how else could the 1,000 billion Dollar military budget that Mr. Mike Mullen wants to spend be funded? This has been presented as an excuse to convince Congress and the American people. The American people’s back has broken because of the economic crisis. They (officials) could not use the domestic situation to improve living conditions in the US, so to increase the military budget they need to present such issues.”

Firouzabadi also said, “Our foreign minister told Mr. Mike Mullen that if the US attacked Iran, it would be in worse shape than it is after its attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq. America will be finished if it attacks Iran. America is not in a good situation. It can neither tolerate the heavy costs (of another war) nor tolerate fighting against Iran’s Basiji heroes.”