Iranian navy fleet is in full control of the region investigating
destination and cargo of any ship or vessel moving to pass through the area.

Commander: Presence of Foreign Warships in Persian Gulf "Unacceptable to
Iran"
News number: 8911111430 17:54 | 2011-01-31
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8911111430

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Hassan
Firouzabadi on Monday underlined Tehran's strong opposition to the
deployment and presence of alien forces and warships in the Persian Gulf,
saying such moves are "unacceptable" to Iran.

"The transit of ships via Persian Gulf is not illegal, but presence of
foreign warships in the Persian Gulf on the pretext of thwarting threats is
unacceptable," Firouzabadi said.

He said that the Iranian navy fleet is in full control of the region
investigating destination and cargo of any ship or vessel moving to pass
through the area.

"The Iranian navy warships are stationed in the Persian Gulf waters and they
permit the transit of foreign ships after registering their name and other
details," he added.

He noted that the transit of American, British, French and Russian vessels
to the Persian Gulf are taking place for many years and it shows their
grudge for the region's oil resources.

"The foreign countries have signed pacts with each other according to which
each of them account for some the expenses of their presence in the region
for plundering the region's oil resources," Major-General Firouzabadi said.

He pointed out that the southern territorial coast of the Islamic Republic
of Iran spread from the north of the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian Army Navy and the IRGC Navy have tight cooperation in
controlling the country's waterways and protecting Iran's interests inside
territorial waters and in the high seas.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei in a ceremony to
commemorate the National Navy Day in November praised the close cooperation
between the naval forces of the Islamic Republic Army and the IRGC.

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.

The study says that if Washington takes military action against the Islamic
Republic, the scale of Iran's response would likely be proportional to the
scale of the damage inflicted on Iranian assets.

The Islamic Republic's top military officials have repeatedly warned that in
case of an attack by either the US or Israel, the country would target 32
American bases in the Middle East and close the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

An estimated 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes through the
waterway.

A recent study by a fellow at Harvard's Olin Institute for Strategic
Studies, Caitlin Talmadge, warned that Iran could use mines as well as
missiles to block the strait, and that "it could take many weeks, even
months, to restore the full flow of commerce, and more time still for the
oil markets to be convinced that stability had returned".