Iran’s IRGC head vows ‘decisive response’ to any US hostility in Gulf

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief on Thursday, April 23 warned the U.S. of a “decisive response” after President Donald Trump said he instructed the U.S. Navy to “shoot down” Iranian boats that harass American ships in the Persian Gulf.
“We declare to the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious … and that all action will be met with a decisive response that will be efficient and quick,” Major General Hossein Salami told state television.
“We have also ordered our naval units to target [U.S. boats and forces] if they try to endanger the safety of our ships or boats of war.”
Tensions between decades-old foes the United States and Iran escalated again last week with Washington accusing its arch enemy of harassing its ships in the Gulf.
Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had successfully launched the Islamic Republic’s first military satellite into space.
The U.S. president said he had “instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”
thedefensepost

Iran Navy Sinks US Carrier Mock Up Durign Drills

A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps says the Iranian Navy can sink the giant US aircraft carriers if they pose a threat to Iran’s maritime interests.
Commander of the IRGC Navy, said made the remarks in an interview with Press TV after his forces in the IRGC Navy started a major drill in the Persian Gulf waters south of Iran earlier in the day.
The drill, code-named the Great Prophet 9, saw nearly 400 rounds of 107-millimeter missiles strike a huge model of a US aircraft carrier.
Various types of aircraft, drones, manned and unmanned aerial vehicles will be also tested on the second day of the drill.
presstv.ir

Iran building giant fake U.S. Navy aircraft carrier

Iran is building a nonworking mock-up of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that United States officials say may be intended to be blown up for propaganda value.
Intelligence analysts studying satellite photos of Iranian military installations first noticed the vessel rising from the Gachin shipyard, near Bandar Abbas, last summer. The ship has the same distinctive shape and style of the Navy’s Nimitz-class carriers, as well as the Nimitz’s number 68 neatly painted in white near the bow. Mock aircraft can be seen on the flight deck.
The Iranian mock-up, which American officials described as more like a barge than a warship, has no nuclear propulsion system and is only about two-thirds the length of a typical 1,100-foot-long Navy carrier. Intelligence officials do not believe that Iran is capable of building an actual aircraft carrier.
Analysts says: “Based on our observations, this is not a functioning aircraft carrier; it’s a large barge built to look like an aircraft carrier”(...) “We’re not sure what Iran hopes to gain by building this. If it is a big propaganda piece, to what end?”
Whatever the purpose, American officials acknowledged on Thursday that they wanted to reveal the existence of the vessel to get out ahead of the Iranians.
Navy and other American intelligence analysts surmise that the vessel, which Fifth Fleet wags have nicknamed the Target Barge, is something that Iran could tow to sea, anchor and blow up — while filming the whole thing to make a propaganda point, if, say, the talks with the Western powers over Iran’s nuclear program go south.
Iran has previously used barges as targets for missile firings during training exercises, filmed the episodes and then televised them on the state-run news media, Navy officials said.
But while Iran has tried to conceal its underground nuclear-related sites, the Iranian Navy has taken no steps to cloak from prying Western satellites what it is building pierside at the busy shipyard. “The system is often too opaque to understand who hatched this idea, and whether it was endorsed at the highest levels”.
nytimes

Iran to Equip IRGC Vessels with Stronger Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) vessels have been equipped with sophisticated missiles with a range of 300km, a senior Iranian defense ministry officials announced on Sunday, but meantime added that more new missiles with much more advanced capabilities will be supplied to the force in the near future.
farsnews

Iranian Warships Dock in Sudan, Again

Two Iranian warships docked in Port Sudan on Saturday, a witness told AFP. This marks the second port call by the Iranian navy in Sudan in five weeks.

nosint

israelnationalnews

Avión Iraní voló cerca del USS Eisenhower/Iranian navy plane flies near USS Eisenhower in Gulf of Oman

Un avión de patrulla marítima de la Armada de Irán, se aproximó el pasado 21-04-10, al portaaviones USS Eisenhower, volando a unos 300 pies de altura.
El incidente se produjo al inicio de las maniobras militares que desarrollaba Irán en esas fechas para mostrar sus capacidades militares.
El Eisenhower navegaba por el golfo de Omán en apoyo de la operación en Afganistán, cuando la aeronave se acercó hasta unas 1.000 yardas del buque.
El encuentro no supuso una amenaza. Aunque es normal que aviones iraníes y norteamericanos se encuentren en la zona del Golfo Pérsico, no es habitual que el encuentro se produzca en zonas mas alejadas como es el Golfo de Omán.
El Almirante Gary Roughead, el oficial de mas alto rango de la US Navy, confirmó el incidente, pero declaró que "los iraníes no fueron provocativos o amenazantes, sino que el encuentro se produjo de manera profesional en el espacio aéreo internacional".
El radar del Eisenhower detectó el avión a unas 100 millas de distancia. Se trataba de un Fokker F27 desarmado, que permaneció en el área del Eisenhower unos 20 minutos.
La US Navy cree que Irán solo quería ver de cerca el portaaviones, sin confirmar si tomaron fotografías, y que solo pretendía mostrar sus capacidades a Estados Unidos, poniéndo énfasis en que el encuentro fue profesional y sin confrontación.
(cnn.com)
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An Iranian navy plane that approached a U.S. aircraft carrier last week was flying as low as 300 feet as it neared the USS Eisenhower, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.
The incident, first reported by CNN on Tuesday, came as Iran was beginning a series of military exercises last week meant to show off their military prowess.
The Eisenhower was on duty in the Gulf of Oman in the northern Arabian Sea, in support of the Afghanistan war efforts, when the Iranian maritime patrol aircraft flew within 1,000 yards of the vessel.
While the encounter was not threatening, it was unusual. U.S. navy ships have regularly encountered Iranian aircraft in the Persian Gulf in recent years, but this encounter took place in the Gulf of Oman, in an area where Iranian jets are seen much less frequently, several Navy officials said.
Adm. Gary Roughead, the top Navy officer, confirmed the April 21 incident. The Iranians were "not provocative or threatening. As long as they are professional and not threatening or reckless, it's international space," he said.
Radar on the Eisenhower and other U.S. ships in the vicinity closely tracked the Iranian aircraft as it approached the aircraft carrier to ensure it maintained a nonthreatening path. The Iranian plane was tracked by U.S. units for nearly 100 miles before it reached the Eisenhower.
The Iranian aircraft was a Fokker F27 that was unarmed. It remained in the vicinity of the Eisenhower for about 20 minutes before leaving the area.
U.S. officials believe the Iranians wanted a close look at the carrier, but they could not say if the Iranians took photos of the ship.
One of the officials also said Iran may simply have been trying to demonstrate its aerial capabilities to the United States.
U.S. military officials continue to emphasize that recent encounters with Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf have been professional and without confrontation or problems. The U.S. Navy takes great care to try to stay out of the way of any Iranian forces in the region.
(cnn.com)

Maniobras militares de Irán en el estrecho de Ormuz/Iranian Military Conducts Offensive, Defensive Wargame at the Straits of Hormoz

Iran está realizando desde el 22 de abril un gran ejercicio militar a larga escala en el Golfo Pérsico. Ha sido mostrado publicamente el asalto a un buque enemigo de desembarco, llevado a cabo por lanchas rápidas, que atacaban el buque con misiles antibuques y RPG de corto alcance, que terminó con el asalto al buque mediante helicópteros. Finalmente el "buque asaltante", fué hundido mediante un torpedo.
(defense-update)

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Iran began today (April 22, 2010) a large scale exercise held in the Persian Gulf, south of the Hurmoz Straits. Public demonstrations held today simulated a naval assault on enemy landing craft. The assault began with a direct attack by a swarm of fast boats, attacking the target with anti-ship missiles and, by RPGs from very close range. This phase was followed by assault teams boarding the vessel, from the sea and by helicopters. This phase was concluded with a torpedo attack sinking the target ship.
(defense-update)

El nuevo destrctor iraní "Jamaran" dispara misil antibuque con éxito/New Iran navy ship successfully fires anti ship missile

IRNA, la agencia oficial de noticias iraní, ha anunciado que su nuevo destructor "Jamaran", ha lanzado misil antibuque con éxito. El misil ha sido llamado Noor (Luz).
No ha sido comunicada la zona exacta de lanzamiento. El lanzamiento ha sido encuadrado dentro de las pruebas sobre la capacidad del buque. El misil ya ha sido utilizado anteriormente en maniobras. Sin embargo, este hecho del lanzamiento, no ha podido se verificado por medios independientes.
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IRNA, Iran's official news agency says its navy has successfully test fired a sea missile from a newly commissioned destroyer in its southern waters.
The anti-ship missile, dubbed Noor, or Light, destroyed its target.
The report doesn't elaborate on the range or give the exact location of the launch but said the missile was fired from the Jamaran destroyer. The ship was inaugurated in February in a southern Iranian port.
The test is considered part of an assessment of the ship's capabilities. The missile has been used regularly in war games over the past years.
Iran occasionally announces military advancements that cannot be verified independently.