Having reminded that His Eminence Commander – in – Chief of the Armed Forces has always emphasized that if we want to be powerful, for sure we have to reach sufficient domination in knowledge areas, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani in an interview with the site of Strategic Council on Foreign Relations spelled out:” in the field of dominance over seas, there are a number of vacuums in the world, because sea field is different from land field; there are four peripheries on land but six at sea. Therefore, accessing and achieving to know them are costly and challenging. If a country can overcome this field, it can certainly have an upper hand”.
Navy Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran continued:” paying attention to the potentials of knowledge – based companies as well as our elite youth can definitely be effective and influential to confront with the field that the U.S. has already stepped in. Because as military units based on equipment, we expect that our country pays special attention to the potentials of elites in all areas”.
A Review on the U.S. Strategy in Using Spy Systems
Rear Admiral Irani called supremacy over ocean and atmospheric conditions which both have effectivity at sea, as two important components in this area and said:” at first stage, the U.S. attempts to have access to maritime data and to have a louder voice in this field. Moreover, the U.S. strategy is not to lose the advantages of their presence although they have pulled out their heavy units from the region”.
Having stated that the U.S. does not tolerate an independent country like the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as its presence at sea field, Iranian Navy Commander explained:” the U.S. expects to be the only country that provides the security at sea and other countries need them, but they failed in this regard. Because having utilized its strategic navy, Iran managed to powerfully escort its own ships. Moreover, it managed to provide security not only for its own ships and economic lifeline, but also for economic lifeline of the region as well as the world”.
Rear Admiral Irani reminded:” We have been awarded twice by the United Nations and International Maritime Organization for the assistance we accorded to demanding ships. In this respect, other countries of the region have admitted Iran’s security providing presence”.
Perilous Presence of the U.S. Spy Systems
Having stressed that the U.S. strategy is to continue its non – presence in a way by utilizing small vessels as well as to disturb the safety, he said:” safety and security are part and parcel components at sea; if security is endangered, then the safety of vessels will also be endangered. Because of unjustifiable presence, endangering the safety of vessels will put the security of sea in danger; because during nights, one can not assess what has happened to vessels. The observers may scrutinize the incidents during day, but in view of the shape of these rescue vessels (UUVs), they can not be seen during nights at all”.
Commander of Navy added:” everybody should pay due attention to the important point that as images showed, they do not dare to put their flag on UUVs, because they know that they are perilous. Although our dear colleagues at Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in the Persian Gulf towed the UUVs, but at later stage we came to conclude that this will not sort out the issue, so we generally decided to release them. Although, there was not tail number or affiliation on the UUVs, but on the basis of international laws, Jamaran Destroyer tried several times to contact, through radio communication systems of vessels they belonged to, but all efforts failed with no response”.
Having stated that the U.S. wishes to show the continuation of its presence in the region, and it wishes to compensate its non – presence with less charge, Rear Admiral Irani added:” in view of the UUVs perilous nature for the security of sea, it is an irresponsible measure taken by the U.S. Along the history, this has been the U.S. character and attitude that will not change. By adopting an imperative attitude, we are to communicate our protests as well as our warnings to International Maritime Organization and other relevant international agencies. Having regarded that the safety and security at sea is disturbed, we underscore that it must be clear in case a ship is damaged, who should remain accountable? Moreover, the UUVs do not have too much movements and they can not be intercepted through radars”.
Having said that in view of changes applied to the geometry of world power, it is the strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to have an upper hand in these areas, he reminded:” We continue to have our strong presence at sea. Safety and security of our ships as well as others’ is of great importance to us. The strong presence will communicate self – confidence and self – reliance to the region and international community”.
Navy Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran referred to the development of maritime diplomacy among Iran’s other strategies and said:” the meeting of Indian Ocean Navy Summit (IONS) is held biennially, it has annual meetings as well. Iran has an active presence in its committees, and has been assigned for the second time to assume the responsibility of Security Committee. In its recent meeting, Iran was also assigned to chair the Humanitarian Committee. Iran is the responsible country to head and direct two main committees out of three of the international forum”.
Having commented on the potentials of these rescue systems (UUVs) to access supremacy in the maritime military field and to play a role similar to that of drones in future, Rear Admiral Irani spelled out:” unmanned equipment can have effective and influential military aspect. The role will increase in future. Iran has taken steps towards smartification of installations and exploiting Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to carry out some missions with less charges along with its commanding views. But exploiting such equipment at sea requires to have a platform and in view of ocean atmospheric situation, heavy vessels will certainly be on priority”.
Having said that the U.S. has launched a new commandership namely unmanned equipment, he added:” in view of remote static strategy, the U.S. has prioritized the usage of the equipment. It wants to impose its desires on governments and nations to acquire political and economic benefits, and to impress their economy by endangering other countries’ security. Iran pays serious attention to these issues”.
Navy Commander pointed out to Iran’s effective role as well as highlighted presence at International Maritime Organization, and emphasized:” the U.S. used to be a member of IONS, but as the U.S. had no territory along the coasts of Indian Ocean, we omitted their attendance in the Summit. They made a lot of efforts and with no exaggeration, directly and through mediating countries like South Africa, Oman, India, Sri Lanka and Australia they solicited us to admit them as an observer member. We underscored that it is not necessary to have them on board; other countries supported us”.
Having said that if we follow up the perils coupled with their spy systems (UUVs) at sea legally, and deal with the issue expertly, other countries will accept, he stated:” the U.S. has been deprived from attending in the Indian Ocean Navy Summit for the last couple of terms. For the upcoming Summit, we have emphasized in a meeting with the French Navy Commander that we continue to oppose the U.S. membership as an observer; if they wish to be in touch with the Summit, they should be limited just to the exchange of information and not to be given a seat”.