Iran will be introducing new strategic maritime capabilities in the near future, IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif has announced.
“In the area of maritime defense, new strategic systems and capabilities of the IRGC will soon be unveiled in the force’s mission area in the presence of IRG commander-in-chief Hossein Salami,” Sharif said, speaking to local media.
The spokesman did not elaborate on the nature of these “strategic systems,” and whether they consist of missiles, water craft, or some other weapons or support equipment.
“By God’s grace, this year is a turning point in the reorganization of the IRGC’s defense and deterrent power,” he added.
The IRGC Navy is tasked with protecting Iran’s Persian Gulf islands and long Gulf coastline using principles of asymmetric warfare, and is equipped with an array of small surface vessels, thousands of missile and of machine-gun-armed speedboats, plus an assortment of coastal defense missile batteries.
IRGC commanders and officers from Iran’s regular Army and Navy have issued a series of warnings to Washington in recent weeks amid the massing of US naval and air forces – including an amphibious strike group, near its shores, ostensibly to combat Iranian ship seizures.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has one of the most comprehensive and extensive defense sectors in the Middle East, developing and producing world-class missiles, drones, radar equipment and defense electronics, among other equipment. The military and the IRGC are also known to take advantage of the country’s natural geography to hide missiles bases and other equipment inside vast underground mountain bases, or among other natural geographic barriers to make their detection and destruction difficult for adversaries.