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Tehran – The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced on Wednesday the inauguration of a new naval base that would provide “complete foresight” of the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, after months of regional tension with Washington, according to the official Iranian news agency (IRNA) .
The base, which was nicknamed “the headquarters of the martyr Syed Majid Rahbar”, is located in the city of Serik in the province of Hormuzgan, east of the Strait of Hormuz, and at its doors, through which one fifth of international exports pass of oil.
This maritime corridor and the surrounding waters of the Gulf were the scene of serious tensions last year between Iran and the United States, as it witnessed ships suffering mysterious attacks and there was talk of shooting down drones and threatening navigation in this region.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Major General Hussein Salami, announced this Wednesday, according to “IRNA”, that “the objective of establishing” the base “is to fully anticipate the entry and exit of maritime vessels from outside the region. in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman “.
He said the base is located “in one of the most strategic areas in terms of defense and attack in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” explaining that the construction process took six years.
This comes in the context of Iran’s show of force and sending threatening messages to the safety of maritime navigation and the world’s most important oil supply in the Gulf, while tension has risen between Tehran and Washington to the in light of the relentless efforts of the US administration to restore all UN sanctions against the Iranian regime.
The announcement came a few days after a US aircraft carrier crossed the Strait of Hormuz, and at a time when the administration of US President Donald Trump is seeking to toughen sanctions on Iran, especially by reactivating UN sanctions.
And on Thursday, the U.S. special representative for Iran and Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, told a session of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States will impose new sanctions on a number of Iranian entities and officials, including a judge who has sentenced Iranian fighter Naid Afkari to death.
Abrams’ announcement comes a few days after Washington imposed a severe sanctions package that included 27 entities and individuals, and came in the context of the policy of maximum pressure on Tehran.
International powers, especially European ones, rejected this maneuver by the United States, justifying their position that Washington withdrew from the nuclear agreement signed with Iran in 2018.
In June 2019, Tehran shot down a US “Global Hawk” reconnaissance aircraft over the Strait of Hormuz, confirming that it had entered Iranian airspace, which Washington denied.
For its part, Washington accused Tehran of being responsible for the attacks on US tankers in the Gulf near Oman, and also for the attacks on Saudi oil sites. Tehran has rejected all the accusations.
Since then, the two sides have almost entered a direct confrontation on several occasions, as the tension between the United States and Iran peaked after US forces in Iraq killed the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force. , General Qassem Soleimani, on January 3.
Tehran then threatened to attack US interests in the Gulf and, a week after Soleimani’s death, carried out attacks on US military bases in Iraq, wounding dozens of soldiers and killing two others.
