Amid tensions with the US, Iran on Saturday flexed its military muscle by installing its missile systems on the three disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz. As per reports, the weapons were deployed on Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa near the Strait of Hormuz, a globally vital shipping lane.
Iran's claim that fortifying the islands can help "target enemy bases and vessels" is seen as an answer to the US and its allies in the region. But, through the move, Tehran also seeks to reassert its ownership over the three islands. The islands located along a globally vital shipping lane have been a bone of contention between the UAE and Iran for decades. Tehran controlled the islands since 1971 at the end of British imperial rule over them.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) minced no words when it stressed how the new system can destroy any target within 600 kilometres (370 miles). "We have a tactic that we must arm the island group and make it operative", said Alireza Tangsiri, naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological branch of Iran’s military. "We are capable of attacking enemy bases, vessels, and assets in the region," he told state television.
📹 IRAN’S IRGC UNVEILS NEW AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS IN THE PERSIAN GULF – REPORTS
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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has showcased new air defense missile systems stationed on the Iranian islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa, which can reportedly target naval… pic.twitter.com/Z8xW3PoajD
The IRGC held military manoeuvres in these islands recently which sit at the route for oil tankers leading from the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. Over one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the region. A drill was also held in 2023 to show its willingness to defend three disputed islands that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) claims as its own. Then, the IRGC unveiled a new vessel armed with missiles with a range of 600km. It had also installed Fath ballistic missiles with a range of 120km and Ghadir cruise missiles with a range of more than 300km on the islands. IRGC Navy also held drills simulating the defence of disputed Gulf islands.
Iran's increased presence in these islands had also triggered the US into deploying additional soldiers and amphibious assault ships and landing ships, over the fear that Iran could threaten the free flow of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters.
