Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Iranian navy fleets have already started their voyage towards the Atlantic Ocean through the waters near South Africa, Fars news agency quoted commander of Iranian Northern Navy Fleet, Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad as saying on Feb. 8.
"Iran's military fleet is approaching the United States' maritime borders, and this move has a message," he said.
In September 2012, Iranian navy commander, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari repeated Iran's plans for sailing off the U.S. coasts to counter the U.S. presence in its waters in the Persian Gulf.
Sayyari earlier spoke about Tehran's plans to send its naval forces to the Atlantic to deploy along the U.S. marine borders.
In September 2012 he said that this would happen "in the next few years".
The plan is a part of Iran's response to Washington's naval presence in the Persian Gulf, according to the agency's report.
The U.S. navy's fifth fleet is stationed in Bahrain.
In the last two years the U.S. has conducted two major maritime war games.
In September 2011, Sayyari announced that the country planned to move vessels into the Atlantic Ocean to start a naval build up "near maritime borders of the United States", Fars news agency said.
"Like the arrogant powers that are present near our maritime borders, we will also have a powerful presence close to the American marine borders," Sayyari said.
Speaking at the 31st anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Sayyari gave no details about the time of such a deployment or the number or type of vessels to be engaged, according to the report.
Earlier in July, 2011 Sayyari announced that Iran was going to send "a flotilla into the Atlantic".