Iran has full control over Strait of Hormuz: Iranian admiral

TEHRAN,Aug.7(MNA) – The commander of the Iranian Navy dismissed the U.S. plan to stage a minesweeping exercise in the region, saying that Iran has full control over the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf region. The Pentagon has recently announced that the United States will conduct an anti-mining naval exercise in the Middle East in September amid concerns that Iran may block key oil transport routes with underwater mines. “The United States assumes that it can affect Iran through announcing that it will hold a minesweeping exercise in the Persian Gulf, but it is not the fact. The (control) of the Strait of Hormuz and the full control of the region are in Iran’s hands,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in an interview with the website of the Iranian Majlis published on Monday. “The decisions, moves, and military exercises of Washington have no effect on the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said. He also said that Iran is the main country which is protecting the security of the Persian Gulf region. Elsewhere in his remarks, Sayyari said that the Persian Gulf Arab states should be aware that they cannot gain power through “joining hands with the global arrogance (forces of imperialism).” A military official had previously said the U.S. is not able to counter the sea mine capability of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Naval Force. “In the IRGC Naval Force, we possess complete mastery of mines… and we have no doubt that the United States is not able to do anything in the field of minesweeping,” IRGC Naval Force Deputy Commander Mahmoud Fahimi said on July 19 in reference to the deployment of U.S. minesweepers to the Persian Gulf with the aim of preventing a possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian naval forces.