Iranian film hails demise of US Navy in imagined Gulf battle

TEHRAN, Iran: In a climactic battle at sea, an Iranian commander orders his forces to open fire on a much larger US fleet, obliterating it with a barrage of rockets, some of which tear American flags from their masts.

The scenario unfolds in “Battle of the Arabian Gulf II,” a new Iranian animated film more than four years in the making that imagines a devastating response to an American attack on the country’s nuclear program.

The movie has begun showing in the city of Mashhad, where it was produced, and will open in other cities in the coming weeks.

The nearly 90-minute film, a sequel to a production about the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, begins with a US attack on an Iranian nuclear reactor.

A character who closely resembles Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, leads a single vessel against more than a dozen American warships. When a US commander orders him to surrender or die, he replies: “General, I am not a diplomat, I am a revolutionary!”

He warns that any American soldiers taking part in an attack on Iran “should order their coffins,” before his forces destroy the whole US fleet.

The real-life Soleimani has directed Iranian-backed forces in Syria and helped Iraq fight Daesh.

In recent years he has gained near-mythic status in Iran, where he is seen as resisting US hegemony in the region.

The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, refused to comment on the film.

Director Farhad Azima said the film cost $250,000 to make, and that producers raised the funds from ordinary people. He said there was no government involvement in the project.

“This is a response to hundreds of (anti-Iranian) American movies and video games,” he said. “We are saying that if you fire one bullet against Iran, a rain of hot lead will be poured on your forces.”