Naval forces under Iran's Revolutionary Guards put on a show of force on Thursday with simultaneous rallies in the seas astride the country and a top commander warned against any attack as tensions with Washington flare.
“In the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the (Caspian Sea), we have established security and strength, and we will prevent any enemy adventurism,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval commander Alireza Tangsiri said at a rally in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
Tangsiri said that IRGC naval units and their regional allies had turned regional waterways into a “theater for defeating the enemies", the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim website quoted him as saying, in a possible reference to Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen who have imposed a maritime blockade in the Red Sea.
The exercises featured over 3,000 vessels, according to the IRGC, which said the parade was timed ahead of International Quds Day, an annual event promoted by Iran to express support for Palestinians.
Organizers said boats operated by the IRGC and civilian volunteers paraded in 13 locations spanning the Persian Gulf, the Makran coast and the Caspian Sea.
At one of the southern sites, pro-government demonstrators burned representations of the Israeli flag.
The exercise comes as the US military has deployed long range bombers at a strategic Indian Ocean airbase, a spokesperson told Iran International, as Washington ramps up rhetoric against Iran and continues a bombing campaign on Houthi fighters in Yemen amid the Iran-backed group's blockade of commercial shipping in the Red Sea region.
US President Donald Trump has demanded Tehran come to a deal over its nuclear program or face a military intervention and warned any attack by the Houthis would be treated as emanating from Iran, after the group, listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the US, launched multiple attacks on US warships.
Top Iranian leaders have rejected the ultimatum and deny seeking nuclear arms.
President Trump reportedly issued a two-month deadline to Iran, via the United Arab Emirates, to agree to a new nuclear arrangement, vowing military consequences should Tehran fail to comply.
Iran and the IRGC have been connected to multiple tanker hijackings and attacks in areas including the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman.
Just last year, amid the Houthi blockade, Iran seized a tanker with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey in retaliation for the confiscation in 2023 of the same vessel and its oil by the US, according to Iranian state media.
