INTERNATIONAL DESK

US forces and allies will soon be forced out of the Persian Gulf waters, where they have been seeking to establish a foothold for years, says Iran’s navy commander.

Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said that in his view the United States has come to find itself with very little elbow room in the regional waters to advance its attempted objective of setting up a coalition to protect its interests.

The statement came in the wake of recent joint military drills with the participation of the naval forces of the Islamic Republic, Russia and China in regional waters.

This was also made before the US military conducted a vicious operation in Baghdad during the early hours of Friday, assassinating Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

Khanzadi had said the United States had gone to considerable lengths to peel Russia and China away from the joint war games in the Sea of Oman and in the India Ocean in late December.

He said the presence of the US Navy and its allies, including the British, in the Persian Gulf is not a matter of concern to Iran.

Repeated attempts by the Pentagon, the Iranian commander said, to establish the coalition with a stated aim of policing regional waters have failed because other countries are aware of the “deceitful” nature of such an endeavor.

“Each aircraft carrier dispatched to the region is deployed within 300 miles from the Iranian borders. Such massive equipment floats idly and this piles huge pressure on the Americans and the British,” said Khanzadi.

“Others do not wish to pay the cost for such a deceitful game. This is why no country is joining their coalition.”