Outsiders Unwelcome in Region: IRGC Chief

In remarks on the sidelines of a massive military exercise launched by the IRGC Navy in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, Major General Hossein Salami said there is no place for extra-regional forces and outsiders in Muslim territories.

“The Muslim nations and governments of this region are capable of ensuring the security of all regions with brotherly and Muslim-style arrangements, and there is no need for the presence of any alien,” the IRGC commander underlined.   

The message of the Islamic Revolution is that no outsider has the right to decide the fate of Muslims, he stated.

Highlighting the IRGC’s preparedness to protect Iran’s borders and territorial integrity, the commander said the Iranian people can rest assured that the country is safe and sound as long as the IRGC forces’ fingers are on the trigger.

General Salami noted that Iran attaches importance to the protection of the security, independence, territorial integrity and calm of its neighbors and Muslim states to the same extent that it cares about the safety of its own frontiers.

The IRGC Navy’s war game is being held on Abu Musa, Naze'at, the Greater Tunb, and the Lesser Tunb islands of Iran in the Persian Gulf.

The purpose of the naval war game, named after late IRGC General ‘Eshaq Dara’, is to “display the IRGC Navy’s might as well as combat and defense preparedness in protecting the Persian Gulf security and the Iranian islands”, the IRGC said.

Various units of the IRGC Navy, including the combat, naval, missile, drone, rapid reaction, electronic warfare and airborne units, backed by the IRGC Aerospace Force, exercise a range of military tactics in the war game.

The IRGC has deployed the ‘Fath’ and ‘Qadir’ missile systems on the Iranian islands, including Abu Musa.

The vessels of ‘Hojaji Special Unit’ have been, for the first time, furnished with missiles with a range of 600 kilometers to ensure the security of Abu Musa and the other Iranian islands.