Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.14 / Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
It is useless for enemies to ignore Iran's presence in the Persian Gulf, ISNA quotes Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi as saying.
Vahidi stressed that the Gulf needs to be seen as an economic zone, instead of a military one.
He mentioned numerous warships in the Gulf, saying that "big number of warships in the Gulf is great injustice by the United States and some European countries". From his point of view, the presence of so many countries in the Gulf destabilizes the security in the region.
Earlier this month The U.S. and its allies began to transfer their troops to the Persian Gulf, Interfax reported citing Israeli sources. The troops arrived at the Omani island Masirah, located south of the Strait of Hormuz, where the U.S. Air Force base is placed.
Huffington Post reported that a U.S. base on the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean brought hundreds of concrete-bomb capable of destroying fortified underground bunkers.
Same sources also reported that France will send a "Charles de Gaulle" nuclear aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf. It is expected that in March-April at least four U.S. and French aircraft carrier battle groups will be placed in East of Persian Gulf, according to Interfax.
Tehran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz several times, blocking a considerable share of global oil exports, if Western sanctions are imposed on Iranian oil. The U.S. has responded by threatening to use military force.
Warships of the U.S. frequently operate in the Gulf, however, when the carrier USS John Stennis departed the Gulf in late December, Iranian officials warned the U.S. not to return. Later Iran indicated that it viewed U.S. naval operations in the Gulf as normal.
As of now, U.S. carrier "Abraham Lincoln" is present in the Gulf, along with the missile cruiser, two U.S. Navy destroyers and two ships, each from British and French Navy.
Another battle group led by U.S. Navy "Carl Vinson" nuclear aircraft carrier is placed in the East of Hormuz Strait, in the northern Arabian Sea washing the southeast coast of Iran.
In March, one more aircraft carrier battle group led by "Enterprise" carrier will go into the Gulf.
Several days ago the commander of U.S. naval forces Vice Admiral Mark Fox told Reuters that Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks. He added that Iran now has 10 small submarines.
Military experts say the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf - which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers - is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's navy.
But ever since al Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat killed 17 sailors on board the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a port in Yemen in 2000, Washington has been wary of the vulnerability of its huge battleships to bomb attacks by small enemy craft.
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