After the United States (U.S.) formed a coalition to “protect the safety of navigation” in the Red Sea against attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it had formed a 55.000-strong maritime militia.
Commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s naval forces, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, spoke at an event held in the capital, Tehran, an Iranian news agency reported.
Stating that they have created a militia force to operate at sea, Tangsiri said:
“Now we have formed an ocean mobilization force (Basij) and that Basij force has vessels big enough to reach Tanzania. The next phase is to create a ‘Shadow Navy’.”
The Iranian commander stated that they first formed their naval mobilization forces of 55.000 troops in the Persian Gulf and that in the next phase, they plan to establish them in the waters in the north of the country (Caspian Sea).
Tangsiri added that the vessels belonging to the mobilization forces are equipped with 107-millimeter rockets.
Iran’s decision to form a naval mobilization force came after the U.S. administration announced the establishment of a multinational mission against attacks by Iran-backed Houthis on international ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea.
Formed within the Revolutionary Guard in Iran in November 1980, by the declaration of mobilization by the revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the war with Iraq, members of the Basij forces are known as a volunteer militia.
The duties of Basij members, which have members of almost all age groups, include ensuring internal security, suppressing insurgencies against the regime, and enforcing the law, AA writes.
E.Dz.
Photo ©️ AA
