July 24, 2020
Pasdar Maritime Forces Commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri says the Pasdaran are planning to establish a permanent naval base to cover the Indian Ocean by the end of the current Iranian year, blowing up an earlier agreement confining the Pasdar navy to the Persian Gulf and giving the waters outside thr Persian Gulf to the regular Navy.
The announcement in Farsi did not make clear if the base would be located “on” the Indian Ocean, that is, at a base on Iran’s southern coast, or “in” the Indian Ocean, meaning some island in the ocean where Iran owns no islands. But many English news stories on the announcement said the base would be located “in” the Indian Ocean.
All the islands in the Indian Ocean are either part of independent countries or are the possessions of European powers. Tangsiri did not say where he expected to establish such an Iranian base, though there was talk in past years of Iran gaining a base in the Comoro Islands. However, the pro-Iranian president of the Comoros when those reports circulated has long since left office.
Tangsiri announced June 22, “The Pasdar Navy has been directed to be present in the Indian Ocean permanently. The Pasdaran are looking to establish a permanent base in/on the Indian Ocean by the end of the current Iranian year,” which was just nine months away.
Either way, the decision is a blow to the status of the regular Navy. More than a decade ago, the often-nasty competition between the two forces appeared to have been resolved when the Pasdaran were assigned to handle the Persian Gulf and the regular Navy was assigned the waters beyond the Strait of Hormuz. That reserved the Indian Ocean exclusively for the regular Navy. Now Tangsiri is blowing up that agreed-upon division of authority.
It is not yet clear if the Pasdaran have acted on their own or if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has approved this new blow to the regular Navy.
Tangsiri spoke of new goals for the Pasdar maritime arm. Referring to repeated harassment by pirates and some foreign vessels of Iranian fishermen in the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, he said, “The Pasdaran will no longer allow such encroachments in the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman.”
Then he invoked the name of the Supreme Leader. “The Pasdar presence in the waters of the Indian Ocean is in line with the fulfillment of strategic naval capabilities by the orders of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution,” he said. ”We will provide a better platform for a more special presence of fishermen and industrial fishing units in the oceans by providing security and establishing a permanent base in the Indian Ocean.”
“All the needs for the establishment of a Pasdar permanent base covering the Indian Ocean have been calculated,” he said, without giving any hint where this base might be located.
