TEHRAN — IRGC Navy Commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said on Sunday that there have been numerous one-on-one clashes between Iran and the U.S. in the Persian Gulf, but many were not reported.

Admiral Tangsiri made the announcement in the 7th session of the national congress of Basiji students held at the 13 Aban Cultural Complex, Fars reported.

In his remarks, the top general also noted that the young Iranian generation must know that the Islamic Republic has important resources and capacities in the Persian Gulf and enjoys a very important geostrategic status.

The commander went on to say, “Of course, these advantages have caused the Americans to be greedy for the vast resources of this region and to always come to the Persian Gulf with great costs and hardships.”

The commander stated that since its establishment the IRGC Navy has been able to work together with the naval unit of the Army to protect the resources and interests of Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea.
 
“We have slapped the Americans on the number of martyrs of the IRGC navy in a direct battle with the United States in the Persian Gulf, although the reports of many Iranian-American clashes in the Persian Gulf have not been released,” the commander stated. 

Tangsiri elaborated by saying that the IRGC navy has lost 9 servicemen in direct battles with the Americans to defend the Iranian territory in the Persian Gulf. 

“Of course, in the clashes we had with the Americans, some of them have not been covered by the media for some reason. For 9 martyrs in a direct battle with the Americans, we were able to give them 9 memorable slaps, and today they have realized the domination of the Islamic Republic in the maritime arena,” the IRGC official noted. 

Noting that Iran has the longest coasts in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, he said, “With the efforts of the armed forces, no one can change the name of the Persian Gulf.

Today, when entering or departing the Persian Gulf in the Strait of Hormuz, all ships are controlled and the first island at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz is Lark Island, and when entering the depths of the Persian Gulf, there are three strategic islands of the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Moussa so that when every ship enters the Persian Gulf, it must pass along these islands.”

Of course, none of the ships of the U.S. and its allies pass through the mentioned area and as soon as they enter the area, they change their route and enter international waterways, the general stated.

The commander of the IRGC navy stated that during the eight years of the Sacred Defense, when Iraq despaired facing Iran with all the equipment and foreign assistance, the Americans directly entered into a direct conflict with Iran in 1987 to support Saddam's army in the Persian Gulf.

“During the Sacred Defense, an Iraqi plane was in contact with the American ship ‘Stark’ and used this warship to check whether the space in the region was ‘clear’, or whether there was an Iranian ship in the region or not. However, an Iraqi plane mistakenly hit the ship, killing 11 of its crew,” Tangsiri pointed out. 

On October 25, the IRGC navy reclaimed a cargo of oil that U.S. forces had stolen from a tanker carrying Iranian oil in the Sea of Oman.
Servicemen from the IRGC Navy took the control of the oil tanker by landing on the tanker’s dock in a heliborne operation and redirected it to the Iranian territorial waters.

U.S. forces, using helicopters and warships, tried hard to redirect the ship but they failed as they faced bravery demonstrated by the IRGC personnel, according to the state TV.

The IRGC released detailed footage of its confrontation against the act of piracy on November 3. 

The footage depicted the incident in great detail, first showing the IRGC navy's intelligence command and intelligence gathering network detecting the vessel laden with the stolen crude.

The IRGC navy was subsequently seen dispatching its rapid reaction units to the area to seize back the cargo.

The commandos then engaged in a heliborne operation, which featured their aircraft landing on the second vessel.

The navy's drone units, speedboats, and other vessels were, meanwhile, seen assisting the operation.

USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), two American destroyers, were then seen approaching second tanker to prevent its recapture, but were warned away by the IRGC navy.

The footage relayed from the operation, meanwhile, depicted the involved American vessels and their crew in striking detail.