JERUSALEM: Israel yesterday denounced an Iranian announcement that it was sending naval ships towards the United States as further evidence that loosening sanctions on Tehran was counterproductive.
The move to send warships to the Atlantic was announced by the commander of Iran’s northern naval fleet on Saturday, who described it as a “message.”
The ships “have already started their voyage towards the Atlantic Ocean via the waters near South Africa,” said Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, in remarks quoted by Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency. Iranian media reported that two ships — a destroyer and a helicopter transport vessel — had been dispatched on January 21.
It was not clear how close the ships would travel towards the US maritime border or when they would arrive.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the dispatch of the warships was clear evidence of Iran’s “aggression” and proof it had not moderated its policies following a landmark deal with world powers to roll back its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
“The easing of sanctions against Iran by the international community has not caused Iran to moderate its international aggression — the complete opposite has occurred,” Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting in remarks relayed by his office.
Israel, the region’s sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state, has long viewed Iran’s controversial atomic programme as a threat to its existence and has not ruled out military action to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, and President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate elected last year, has vowed to allay Western concerns about it. In September 2012, Iran said it was planning to send naval forces to the Atlantic to deploy along US marine borders to counter a beefed up US naval presence in the Persian Gulf, Fars reported, with the navy chief saying the buildup would begin within several years.
In December, the Pentagon said it was not planning to scale back its vast military presence in the Gulf despite the six-month interim nuclear deal.
Haddad, described as commander of the Iranian navy’s northern fleet, said the vessels had started their voyage towards the Atlantic Ocean via “waters near South Africa”, Fars reported.
Fars said the plan was part of “Iran’s response to Washington’s beefed up naval presence in the Persian Gulf”.
The Fars report, which carried no details of the vessels, could not be confirmed independently.
The United States and its allies regularly stage naval exercises in the Gulf, saying they want to ensure freedom of navigation in the waterway through which 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil exports passes.
US military facilities in the region include a base for its Fifth Fleet in the Gulf Arab kingdom of Bahrain. Iran sees the Gulf as its own backyard and believes it has a legitimate interest in expanding its influence there.
Iranian officials have often said Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Gulf, if it came under military attack over its disputed nuclear programme, and the Western war games are seen in the region as an attempt to deter any such move.
Fars said the Iranian navy had been developing its presence in international waters since 2010, regularly launching vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates operating in the area.Agencies
