IRAN ANNOUNCES STEALTH TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE FOR ITS GULF SPEEDBOAT FLEET

▶ Tehran uses the announcement to indirectly threaten US allies in the region who invited the American presence

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said yesterday that it has plans to equip its speed boats in the Gulf with stealth technology as tensions with the United States continue to rise.

Tehran’s elite force said that it would equip the boats with radar-evading technology and new missile launchers as it continues to patrol the waterway that is crucial to global oil transfers.

“We are trying to increase the agility of the Guard’s speedboats and equip them with stealth technology to facilitate their operations,” Alireza Tangsiri, the Revolutionary Guard navy chief, told state news agency Irna.

Iranian vessels have instigated several incidents with the US Navy in recent years in the Gulf.

The USS John C Stennis entered the Gulf last week, ending a long absence of US aircraft carriers in the region, and was shadowed by Revolutionary Guard speedboats.

The Revolutionary Guard last week began war games in the Gulf, through which a third of the world’s seaborne oil passes, and said that its forces were ready to respond to any hostile action from the US.

In an indirect threat to Saudi Arabia and other US allies in the region, the head of the Iranian armed forces, Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, said any Iranian confrontation with US forces might also target Gulf nations that he said had invited the US into the region.

“Iran’s regional enemies should know that alongside a pacifist doctrine, Iran has a powerful military force that is ready to protect Iran’s territorial integrity, and also hold accountable countries that proposed [the US presence],” said Maj Gen Bagheri.

Tehran was angered by the US decision in May to reimpose sanctions on the Iranian economy after withdrawing from the landmark nuclear deal agreed with world powers three years earlier.

The new restrictions have harmed Iran’s banking and energy sectors. US President Donald Trump has argued that sanctions are needed to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and to prevent its funding of extremism across the Middle East.

Iran is a backer of Shiite militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen battling the Arab Coalition and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Revolutionary Guard has begun war games in the Gulf and said it is ready to respond to any hostile action from the US