IRGC confirms monitoring US naval commanders in Strait of Hormuz
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has confirmed its forces have been monitoring the moves of the commanders of the US, British and French navies transiting the Strait of Hormuz aboard the USS Paul Hamilton warship.
Commander of the IRGC Navy's First Zone Brigadier General Abbas Gholamshahi said on Saturday that drones and vessels had been engaged in a precision mission in that regard.
Gholamshahi said the IRGC Navy monitors the movement of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf “round-the-clock.”
The IRGC commander said patrol vessels and the IRGC Navy's Command Control Center in the Strait of Hormuz have in the past detected and monitored the American warship while entering the zone.
According to the Associated Press, IRGC forces riding speed boats stood by uncovered machine guns on their decks, while sailors aboard the Paul Hamilton similarly stood by loaded machine guns as others shot photographs and video of the vessels.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who oversees the US Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet, said Iran's IRGC ships came within 915 meters of the Paul Hamilton on Friday.
In May, the IRGC Navy seized an intruding foreign oil tanker in the country’s territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz.
Following the IRGC Navy's seizure of the vessel, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States would make a series of military moves in the Persian Gulf.
Iran has made it clear that it views US military vessels lurking in the waters of the Persian Gulf as a threat to its national security and a source of tension and instability in the region.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly vowed to give a decisive response to any hostile move by Washington that would disrupt the security of the strategic waterway.
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