Iran Captured Two U.S. Navy Riverine Patrol Boat Near It's Farsi Island, Detained 10 USN Sailors

Two US Navy riverine patrol boats captured by Iranian Navy (IRGC) and Ten sailors were detained. Though Iranian authority had originally told the US that the sailors would be returned promptly, but later soldiers had to spent a night in Iran, media reports. Iran say to return the sailors to the Navy today (Wednesday) morning, a US defense official told to the media.

This type of U.S. Navy Riverine Command Patrol Boats were captured by Iranian Navy near Farsi Island in Parsian Gulf.

A senior administration official confirmed earlier they lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain and claimed the drift of those two boats into Iranian waters as a mechanical defect. The official further said "We subsequently have been in communication with Iranian authorities, who have informed us of the safety and well-being of our personnel. We have received assurances the sailors will promptly be allowed to continue their journey." Another senior US administration official told CNN that there's nothing to indicate anything hostile on the part of Iran. Administration officials also reportedly said that releasing the sailors at night would be "unsafe."

Though, later, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the 10 American sailors, who are now being held at an IRGC naval base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. The semiofficial Fars news agency in Iran said that members of the elite IRGC had confiscated GPS equipment from the boats for the due check whether this drift of US Navy boats were a unintentional technical fault or deliberate sneak-peak. And as per news agency IRGC officials iterates that the data from the equipment would "prove that the American ships [were] 'snooping' around in Iranian waters."

Satellite map

Ben Rhodes, the White House's deputy national security adviser, told reporters that the US is "working to resolve the situation such that any US personnel are returned to their normal deployment." According to a senior US official told the media that US Secretary of State John Kerry immediately called Iran's minister of foreign affairs, Javad Zarif, upon learning of the incident at around 12:30 p.m. EST. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said.

The latest incident comes on the heels of Iran's rocket test in late December near US warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The incident also comes hours before US President Barack Obama is due to give his final State of the Union address before Congress. This is not the first time Iran has detained Western navy sailors operating in or near Iranian waters. In 2004, 15 British Royal Navy personnel from a training team based in southern Iraq were detained while delivering a boat from Umm Qsar to Basra, then The Telegraph reported.

Iran Army set to unveil new defense achievements

Commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan told reports on Sunday that an ultra-light combat vehicle and anti-aircraft gun will also be among the new military achievements that are planned to be unveiled ahead of National Army Day on April 15.

Iran tests ‘combat robot with machine gun’ at massive drills.

Pourdastan said the wheeled battle tank, which will be put display for the first time, is equipped with a 90 mm-caliber cannon and can carry four military personnel.

The armed 4×4 robot is also capable of carrying two missiles and a load of up to 600 kilograms, according to the Iranian commander.

A 23 mm-caliber anti-aircraft gun capable of penetrating bulletproof vests as well as an ultra-light tracked combat vehicle will also be among the achievements to be unveiled by the country’s Ground Forces.The Iranian commander said that the new achievements will be made available to Iran’s Defense Industry Organization for mass production.

Iran’s Arash shoulder-fired weapon was put to the test during major maneuvers code-named The Great Prophet 9 in February 2015.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and reached self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.

Iran has repeatedly assured other countries that its military might poses no threat to other states, insisting that the country’s defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.

Why The Holy Places Like "Mosques" Are Targeted?

Why those hellish demons are targeting the holy places, whatever its a Mosque or Tomb/Temple of other religion! Al-Qaeda gone, anti-Bashar elements failed! Now man eater demons are organized behind the form of ISIS, humiliating the religion. Would this bring any scenario in front of world people? Yes! Some analysts and critics showed evidences that ISIS is formed and propagated by the CIA-Mossad joint venture by the full fledged fueling by the Saudi King family! May be its true or not, question is that "why they (world powers) can't stop!

See the brutality below:

Questions Which Tangled The Concerns Over Saudi's Proposal To Pakistan For Joining In Yemen Attack

1: Currently FATA, LOC, Indian border, Afghanistan border, Karachi, Siachen & Khuzdar are active fronts which have stretched Pakistan military's capabilities, leading for them to make immense changes in conventional force posture. If the Parliament does approve the deployment of Pakistan Army into either Saudi Arabia or Yemen, it would leave Pakistan Army even more stretched with its resources and manpower. If Pakistan is going to fulfill a capability gap for the Saudi military forces, who will fulfill the gap left by the deployment of Pakistan Army inside Pakistan's own low intensity conflict zones?

Outcome of Saudi Invasion on Yemen: 

2: Would Saudi Arabia and its allies be willing to make a token military contribution to Pakistan's conventional defenses should another war with India breakout?

3: What guarantee there is that India won't take advantage of the Pakistani deployment to the Middle East by being assertive on the border or by teaming up with Iran and Afghanistan to isolate Pakistan as it has always wanted to?

4: What contingency plan does the govt have if such a deployment fuels further sectarianism in Pakistan?

5: What would the govt do if Iran who would be unhappy about such a deployment reactivates its own proxies inside Pakistan to create a situation right here in order to make Pakistan 'pay' for it?

Two non-democratic power grabber. 

6: Why would the govt not specify, in the light of Pakistani national interests what exactly are the objectives for which they want to join this coalition?

7: Why Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula and Daesh haven't yet been targeted in Yemen by the coalition airstrikes?

The Great Persian, Arab Proxy War

29 - March - 2015

Here is why those analysts classifying the wars in the middle east as 'sectarian wars' need to rethink their position.

1: Persians and Arabs have hated each other since ancient times. One just needs to look at history to find the validity of that argument. Hating each other is part of their respective identities.

2: Sectarian element in this conflict is nothing more than a rallying cry as race based nationalism is no longer strong enough to have thousands of young indoctrinated Persian and Arab men to kill each other. By fueling sectarianism the Persians and Arabs make sure that their fire of proxy wars has the fuel of young brainwashed men it needs to burn till their objectives are achieved.

3: Both Arabs & Persians are fighting to become the regional top dogs as the United States moves its focus to China leaving a power vacuum behind which both the Persian Iran and Arab coalition lead by Saudi Arabia hope to fulfill and cement their role as the regional superpower and to be classified as a 'Medium Power' in the world power structure.

4: Persians seek dominion over Arabia for historic reasons, they see it in the same light they saw the Greeks during ancient times. A basic study of numerous Persian Greek wars and Arab Persian wars will put this point of view in its right context. In other words the Persians seek a 21st century version of the 'Parthia'.

5: Arabs on the other hand seek to establish their own 21st Century version of the 'Omayyad Empire'.

Now that its been specified that there is a clear 'conflict of interests' between the Persians and Arabs for geostrategic reasons, it should become clear why exactly these two great powers in the region are busy burning Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya in their imperial proxy wars. Egypt, Lebanon and Bahrain are other battlegrounds that have either failed to ignite or are yet to be activated.

The Persian power Iran, has funded, trained, armed and supported Jaish-al-Mahdi, Hizbullah, Shabiha, Huthis, Hamas and other proxies which it pays for through its petrodollars, in order to have 'strategic depth' in the entire Middle Eastern region. Iran is the only country in the region that has a 'foreign army' under IRGC. Arab coalition lead by Saudi Arabia has funded, trained, armed and supported its own proxies, namely FSA, Jaish-al-Fatah and regional state govts allied to Riyadh like President, Sisi, President Hadi etc.

Armed to the teeth and rich with vast oil wealth the Persians and Arabs will fight this conflict to the bitter end. Somewhere down the line people will realize that this conflict has absolutely nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with the historic hatred of Persians and Arabs, the hubris to dominate the region for serving their own geostrategic interests. Islam preaches peace,and brotherhood among Muslims of all schools of thought, however the Persians and Arabs are now bent on using Islam as a tool to fulfill their agendas through a brutal, deadly, vicious and devastating proxy war.

The results of this clash are becoming visible already, a great war is brewing which will engulf the whole region to the great benefit of those who sell weapons to these regional powers, the US, Russia and EU. This is a battle to the end and its real victor will be none other than Israel. May Allah (SWT) have mercy on us.

Source: Horus - Pakistan Defence

Iran shoots down Israeli spy drone near Natanz nuclear facility

The IRGC’s Aerospace Force has intercepted and shot down an Israeli spy drone, the IRGC announced in a statement on Sunday.

It added that the stealth and radar-evading spy drone intended to reach the nuclear facility in Natanz, but was targeted by a surface-to-air missile before it reached the area.

 

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has shot down an Israeli spy drone over the Iranian sky before the unmanned aerial vehicle reached Natanz nuclear facility.

“This mischievous act once again reveals the adventurist nature of the Zionist regime [of Israel] and added another black page to this fake and warmongering regime’s file which is full of crimes,” the IRGC statement said.

The statement emphasized that along with other Armed Forces, the IRGC is fully and strongly prepared to defend the Islamic Republic’s territory and airspace against any aggression and reserves the right to respond in kind to such moves.

Iran’s nuclear facilities have always been a regular target for espionage activities by US and Israeli secret services, which have at times used drones for this purpose. However, all efforts made to this end have been successfully thwarted by the Iranian military forces. 

 

A general view shows the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran (Reuters Raheb Homavandi)

 

On December 4, 2011, the Iranian military’s electronic warfare unit announced that it had successfully downed the American RQ-170 reconnaissance and spy drone in the eastern part of Iran with minimal damage.

The RQ-170, an unmanned stealth aircraft designed and developed by the Lockheed Martin Company, had crossed into Iran’s airspace over the border with Afghanistan.

The drone was one of America's most advanced spy aircraft and its loss was considered a major embarrassment for Washington.

SF/SS/SL

 

Source: www.presstv.ir

IRGC Navy Commander: US Can Well Imagine How Its Warships Sink if It Attacks Iran

TEHRAN (FNA)- The United States is afraid of attacking Iran since it knows that its aircraft carrier with thousands of sailors and crews will easily sink in the Persian Gulf in case it dares to launch a military attack against Iran, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said Sunday.

 “The Americans can sense by all means how their warships will be sunk with 5,000 crews and forces in combat against Iran and how they should find its hulk in the depths of the sea,” Fadavi said, explaining why Washington's war rhetoric against Iran is nothing but empty boastful words.

He said since the very first day that the US warships entered the Persian Gulf, the IRGC Navy has formed and evolved all its capabilities, trainings, structures, organizations and weapons on the basis of Washington’s threats, and added that the IRGC vessels in the region are monitoring the slightest moves made by the Americans.

Fadavi said the Americans might be able to hide themselves in their bases in certain Muslim countries of the region if they are faced with Iran’s crushing response, “but they cannot hide themselves in the sea since the entire Middle-East region, the western Europe, the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz are monitored by us and there is no place for them to hide”.

In relevant remarks in January, Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Salami underlined Iran’s capability to display different initiatives in the battlefield, and said the enemies cannot assess the country’s operational and tactical power.

Salami described the tactics used by the Iranian commanders and soldiers during the 8-year Iraqi-imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) as a proper role model for the new generation, and said during the war Iran used different initiatives and tactics to defeat the enemy despite being faced with an acute shortage of weapons and equipment.

“Therefore, the enemies will never be able to assess our operational and tactical power,” he stressed.

The IRGC is responsible for the security of the Persian Gulf. In 2008, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, former commander of the IRGC and the current military advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, declared that the responsibility for defending the Persian Gulf had been handed over to the IRGC.

He warned that the IRGC would seal the strategic Strait of Hormuz in case the US launches any attack on Iran's nuclear installations.

Iran's naval power has even been acknowledged by foes. In a Sep. 11, 2008 report, the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy said that in the two decades since the Iraqi imposed war on Iran, the IRGC has excelled in naval capabilities and is able to wage unique asymmetric warfare against larger naval forces.

According to the report, the IRGC Navy has been transformed into a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well-financed force and is effectively in control of the world's oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz.

The study says that if Washington takes military action against the Islamic Republic, the scale of Iran's response would likely be proportional to the scale of the damage inflicted on Iranian assets.

Iran Seeks to Deploy Special Forces to Yemen

Iran is seeking to deploy Iranian Special Forces in Yemen to protect its diplomats in the country, BBC Monitoring is reporting, citing a July 25 report in Baraqish, which it characterizes as a privately-owned Yemen newspaper (presumably located in the northwestern Yemen city of the same name).

According to the BBC Monitoring report, diplomatic sources (presumably from Yemen) told Baraqish that Murteza Abedi, Iran’s charge d'affaires in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, asked Yemen’s Foreign Ministry to allow it to recruit Iranian Special Forces to protect its diplomats inside the country. 

The Diplomat could not independently verify the report, which doesn’t appear to have been reported by other media outlets.

If accurate, the request came days after an administrative staff member at Iran’s embassy in Sana’a was kidnapped by armed gunmen in the Hadda neighborhood in the southwestern part of the city, near where the Iranian embassy is located.

According to Global Post, it was the first time that an Iranian had been kidnaped in Yemen, although foreigners are often kidnapped in the country by groups seeking to use them as bargaining chips with the Yemeni government.

On Friday, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said Iran would soon send a team into Yemen to investigate the kidnapping of the staff member, whose name is Nour Ahmad Nikbakht. Similar to earlier protests by Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Amir-Abdollahian slammed Yemen for failing to protect the Iranian embassy employee, which Salehi previously underscored is the responsibility of the host nation, according to international law.

A photo appearing on Press TV, Iran’s English-language news outlet purportedly showed a Yemen solider standing guard outside Iran’s embassy in Sana’a, although no date was given for when the photo was taken.

The BBC Monitoring report said that in making the request for Iranian Special Forces to be allowed to protect its diplomats in the country, Abedi had cited Yemen’s willingness to allow U.S. Marines to protect American diplomats as precedent.

The request, if accurate, is unlikely to be granted. Yemen and Iran have clashed over Tehran’s widely suspected support for separatist movements in the southern part of Yemen, as well as for the Houthi movement in the northern part of the country.

Iran’s alleged support for the northern-based Houthi movement is said to date back some time but has reportedly intensified greatly in recent years. The Houthis are Zayid Shi’a, the second largest Shi’a sect, which differs on significant and fundamental points from Twelver Shi’ism, the largest branch of the religion and the one most Iranians practice.

Since about 2004, the Houthis have alternated between being a legitimate political faction and being an armed insurgency fighting the government. Notably, they are located directly across the border from Saudi Arabia, prompting concern that Iran is seeking to establish a foothold alongside its regional rival by supporting the Houthis.

Despite frequent accusations that Iran is supporting the Houthis from the Saudi press and Yemen officials, it has long been disputed whether Iran is actually active in supporting the Houthis and, if so, to what extent. That being said, American intelligence officials that long dismissed the Saudi and Yemeni accusations now say that Iran does provide support for the group, according to the New York Times.

For years north and south Yemen were separate countries but they unified in 1990. Lingering hostilities have continued to simmer, however, and provoked a two-month civil war back in 1994.

In the south Iran is said to be working with Hiraaki [Southern Separatist Movement], one of the more outspoken proponents of southern secession from the Republic of Yemen.

For years north and south Yemen were separate countries but they united in 1990. Still, hostilities have continued to linger and provoked a two-month civil war back in 1994. They have intensified in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Hiraaki’s powerbase is near the Bab-al Mandab strait, a strategic chokepoint in the Persian Gulf, prompting fears that Iran hopes to use support for Hiraaki— which is a Sunni group— to gain control over Bab-al Mandab.

A June report in the Wall Street Journal quoted Qassem Askar, Hiraaki's secretary-general, as saying the group had been fracturing as of late, and that various elements deciding to seek arms and military and media training from Iran and Hezbollah, although he said senior Hiraaki officials demanded they stop doing so.

In January, Yemen’s Coast Guard intercepted a ship carrying sophisticated weapons on board, including 122 mm Katyusha rockets, anti-aircraft Strella 1 and 2 missiles (Manpads), Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers, materials to make explosives and night vision goggles. Yemen officials, all the way up to the president, said the weapons had originated from Iran and accused the government in Tehran of trying to arm the Houthis and Hiraaki groups. Iran denied any involvement in the shipment.

Iran Claims (Again) To Have Some Awesome New Military Gear To Show Off (A View Through West)

Iran is claiming via their state news agency to have “made great strides in the production of military equipment.”

The report says that Iran will soon unveil a new drone, a new tank, new submarine, a new missile, and an already widely debunked stealth fighter jet that can “take off and land on short runways.”

The Iranian’s new weapons obviously have really intimidating names like “The Conqueror” for the fighter jet or “The Farsighted” for the drone.

This isn’t the first time that Iran has made lofty claims about their military prowess.

Back in April, we reported about how the Iranian military offered no evidence that they had tested an advanced rocket that was so amazing, it “made all the enemies' destroyers and ships retreated from near our borders.”

For all the bellicose rhetoric, there isn’t actually much to the Iranian military.

The reality is that Iran falls somewhere between Japan (which doesn’t have a military) and Indonesia on the global firepower scale.

Their military expenditures amount to around $10 billion, or 2.5% of their GDP, which ranks 54th globally.

Most analysts agree that Iran's military is defensive in nature, designed to slow down an assault in order to seek diplomatic ends, not so much project power.

Iran stages ‘modern warfare’ drill in Strait of Hormuz

File photo shows Iranian Navy boats taking part in maneuvers near Strait of Hormuz. (Reuters)

Iran claims its capability to defend itself is growing and the Islamic republic is “prepared for any threat”. The statement follows tests of “modern warfare” capabilities and exercises to hone battle tactics in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

­The naval force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is in charge of maintaining security in the Persian Gulf area, held exercises near the port city of Bandar Abbas, which holds a strategic position on the Strait of Hormuz. The main aim was to boost its forces combat readiness, familiarize them with the latest drills, and increase their response time.

The drills also tested well-timed responses to natural and manmade disasters, and allowed IRGC forces to operate new weapons, Iranian Press TV reported.

“Our present capabilities are incomparable to the past. Today, our youth, banking on the past experiences and modern science, have managed to show their capabilities to the world and be prepared for any threat,” IRGC Navy Commander Rear-Admiral Reza Torabi was quoted as saying.

This was the fifth such tactical exercise held by Tehran, however nothing was officially said about the previous tests.

Over the past few years, Iran has held several military drills to enhance the defensive capabilities of its armed forces and to test modern military tactics and equipment.

One of the latest tests took place in December 2012, when Iran’s Navy held a six-day naval drill aimed to show "the armed forces' military capabilities" in confronting enemy threats.

The maneuver also took place in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route that accounts for more than a third of the world's seaborne oil exports, and involved testing warships, submarines, jet fighters and hovercrafts.

Iran has been constantly upgrading its military capabilities lately. In recent years, Iran declared it had made great achievements in the defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in essential military equipment and systems. The country produces its own tanks, self-propelled guns and multiple rocket launchers. This September, Iran's navy announced the launch of the overhauled super-heavy Tareq 901 submarine. Iran is also actively engaged in missile development. Its Shahab-3 long-range ballistic rocket has a range of 5,000km – meaning it could reach Israel and all US military bases in the Persian Gulf.