Iran Controlling US Warships Passing through Strait of Hormoz

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) controls the US warships and every other vessel which intends to pass through the Strait of Hormoz, Iranian Supreme Leader's top advisor for military affairs Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said on Wednesday.     
 
"The IRGC controls the identity and destination of every US warship which intends to pass through the Strait of Hormoz," Safavi said.

"And Americans fully respond to the IRGC's telecommunications center with complete answers," he added.

The Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the strategic Persian Gulf waterway, is a major oil shipping route. An estimated 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes through the waterway.

Iran's naval power has even been acknowledged by foes. In a Sep. 11, 2008 report, the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy also said that in the two decades since the Iraqi imposed war on Iran, the Islamic Republic has excelled in naval capabilities and is able to wage unique asymmetric warfare against larger naval forces. According to the report, Iran's Navy has been transformed into a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well-financed force and is effectively in control of the world's oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz.

Elsewhere, Safavi pointed to Tehran's opposition to the US demand for setting up a direct military hotline with Iran in the Persian Gulf, and said Iran didn't accept the demand because it meant direct ties between Iran and the US and Tehran does not want to have any relations with the US.

US defense official announced earlier this year that Pentagon was considering setting up a direct military hotline with Iran after a series of close encounters between US and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf.

Iran's top military commanders quickly rejected the offer, arguing that the offer was basically wrong because the region's affairs and security "are not at all related to the Americans who have travelled half the world to reach the Persian Gulf."

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Ali Fadavi was the first Iranian top commander who rejected the US request for establishing the "red phone" link, saying the US itself would reject such an offer if Iran deployed around its coastal water.

"We would establish direct contact with the United States if we would ever go to the Gulf of Mexico," he said sarcastically.

"In the view of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the presence of the US in the Persian Gulf is illegitimate and makes no sense," he added.

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