Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Iran plans to send ships close to US waters: report

Iran's navy is going to deploy ships close to US territorial waters, its commander in chief was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"As the global oppression (the US) is present not far from our maritime border ... our navy is going to have a strong presence not far from US territorial waters," the Irna news agency quoted Admiral Habibollah Sayyari as saying.

On July 19 Sayyari also said that Iran was going to send "a flotilla into the Atlantic".

The remarks come as another high-ranking Iranian appeared to reject a recent US request to establish a "red phone" link between the countries to avoid unwanted confrontation between their armed forces in the Gulf region.

"When we are in the Gulf of Mexico, we will establish direct contact with the United States," Ali Fadavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, was quoted in press reports as saying.