| Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution |
| Command |
| Supreme Leader of Iran |
| Senior officers |
| Military Branches |
| Air Force |
| Ground Force |
| Navy |
| Quds Force |
| Basij |
| Missile Forces |
| Missile Forces |
| Personnel |
| Ranks insignia |
| Facilities |
|---|
| Baqiyatallah University |
| History |
| Iranian Revolution |
| Navy of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution | |
|---|---|
| Strength | |
| Manpower | 20,000 |
| Boats | 1,500 |
The Navy of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution or Revolutionary Guards' Navy consists of 20,000 men and 1,500 crude boats and fast attack boats separate and in parallel to the regular Navy of Iran.
It is also known to operate helicopters in support of maritime operations.
Contents |
Equipment
- Swedish-made Boghammar patrol boats
Facilities
It is believed that the IRGC's Navy has facilities on the following islands:[1]
Notable operations
On 21 June 2004, eight sailors and Royal Marines were seized by forces of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy while training Iraqi river patrol personnel in the Persian Gulf.[2]
On 23 March 2007, fifteen sailors and Royal Marines from HMS Cornwall were seized by forces of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy in the Persian Gulf.[3]
On 7 January 2008, US officials claimed 5 Iranian speedboats 'harassed' US navy vessels in the Persian Gulf. IRGC speedboats made threatening moves and in one case even came within 180 meters of US warships. The U.S. Navy claims to have also received a radio transmission from Iranian boats saying: "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes". After this US ships were said to have taken up their gun positions and were ready to open fire at one of the boats when the Iranians turned away and one of the Iranian speedboats (allegedly) dropped white boxes into the water in front of the U.S. ships, it was not clear what was in the boxes.[4] Iranian officials and military commanders later downplayed the incidents as normal and denied to have sent those radio transmissions. After the US released a video showing Iranian speedboats swarming US ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran released their own video of the incident after suggesting the US video was staged.[5]
Some Iranian analysts defend the Iranian government's version of the incident by pointing out that no suicide bomber would want to escape from death, because seeking death is the nature of the suicide bomber. Had the Iranian boats seriously intended to blow themselves up with the American vessels, they would not have withdrew in the way the Pentagon footage displayed it to be.
References
- ^ Pasdaran
- ^ "Timeline: UK-Iran relations". BBC News. 2007-03-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/3077540.stm. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
- ^ BBC NEWS | UK | UK sailors captured at gunpoint
- ^ CNN Iranian boats 'harass' U.S. Navy, officials say 7 January 2008
- ^ Fars News Pentagon Video on Iran-US Confrontation a Clumsy Fake 9 January 2008
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External links
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