IRAN CREATES ELITE BAND OF PIRATES TO RULE THE SEAS
ELITE units from Iran are training mercenaries as modern-day privateers to carry out naval attacks.
The Quds Force naval unit has already trained and equipped hundreds of Yemeni and Iraqi mercenaries to carry out attacks while solidifying a covert armssmuggling network, a new report reveals.
News of the unit emerges as diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to rein in its nuclear programme continue.
Iran’s Quds Force is already a well-established branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, tasked with mounting extra-territorial operations to support Iran’s proxy wars across the Middle East.
Its reach was drastically affected by the assassination of leader General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in January 2020 by a US drone strike while in Iraq.
Now, intelligence gleaned by the opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, reveals Tehran has been steadily attempting to make up for that loss of capability for its operations in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and several African countries.
The efforts to engage foreign mercenaries in Yemen have intensified since the election of the “Butcher of Tehran” Ebrahim Raisi, 61, as Iran’s president, in parallel with an increase in missile attacks.
The new Quds naval unit is based at the Khamenei Academy of Naval Sciences and Technology in Ziba Kenar, on the Caspian Sea coast.
Brig Gen Hassan Ali Zamani Pajooh oversees the unit’s main aim – to provide commando training to foreign mercenaries.
Conducted through comprehensive six-month residential courses, it is being supplemented by additional maritime courses on Qeshm island in the Gulf – by the same commando brigade responsible for attacks on British oil tankers. In
January 2020, more than 200 Yemeni mercenaries were trained in commando tactics, naval science and technology.
A similar sized contingent of Iraqis began training in July of that year, according to the report. After finishing their training, the Iraqis were sent to al-faw peninsula and Basrah to form a naval unit under the command of Quds Force.
Evidence shows the new naval force’s remit goes beyond just training.
It has established new smuggling networks which are already providing weapons and equipment “to expand conflicts into the Arabian Sea, Bab al-mandeb and the Red Sea”.
This has equipped Yemen’s Houthi rebels with speedboats, missiles, mines and other weapons, says the report.
One of the methods of transferring weapons to Yemen is to use third countries, such as Somalia.
Others include using small boats and drug-smuggling methods, such as oversized 6ft-fenders which hide arms caches.
The fenders are anchored underwater at set locations and fitted with trackers, so they can be retrieved by other vessels.
Some of these weapons are being intercepted. In December last year, the US Justice Department announced the successful forfeiture of two large caches of the Iranian arms, including 171 surface-toair missiles and eight anti-tank missiles, destined for Houthi militants in Yemen.
Also seized were 1,400 AK-47 rifles and 226,600 rounds of ammunition.these and thousands of rocket launchers, machine guns and sniper rifles are believed to have originated from the Iranian port of Jask.
Shahin Gobadi, of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, said: “Since Raisi became president, missile and drone attacks have accelerated along with efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.
“The regime has intensified maritime terrorist acts through foreign mercenaries.
“The Quds naval force unit, which trains and equips Iranian proxies, is a real threat both to regional stability and international shipping.
“Yet, instead of holding the Iranian regime accountable,western countries have granted it concessions, a trend that has emboldened Tehran.
“Tehran must be held accountable for its proxy war in the region, its terrorism, its development of ballistic missiles and its egregious violations of human rights.”