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IRGC chief: Iran hits 12 Israeli vessels after its oil tankers targeted
“They (Israelis) hit 14 of our ships in order to choke off the export of crude oil. Initially, we did not know which party was responsible for the attacks as they were being conducted mysteriously. Finally, we discovered that the Zionist regime was accountable for them and 12 of their ships were hit.”
“Once their fifth ship was hit, they held up their hands and called for the cessation of the ship war,” Salami said on Saturday during a visit by President Masoud Pezeshkian to Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters in the capital Tehran, Press TV reported.
He said when the UK seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar, “we took the Stena Impero and they surrendered”, referring to the IRGC’s confiscation of the British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in 2019.
“They took two ships from us in Greece, we took two ships from them and finally they surrendered,” Gen. Salami said, referring to Iran’s retaliation in May 2022 after the US seizure of an Iranian tanker off the Greek coast.
“When our two oil tankers headed to Venezuela, the Americans threatened to seize the two oil tankers. I myself and [IRGC Navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza] Tangsiri simulated the operation of seizing an American oil tanker and announced it on radio call. When the Americans saw it, our tankers reached their destination safely,” he added.
Salami stated that Iran was going through an extremely difficult period at the time as top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani had been assassinated in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport, the COVID-19 pandemic had overwhelmed the country, economic sanctions were being applied at their maximum level, and enemies were trying to completely isolate the Islamic Republic.
The IRGC then utilized all capacities at its disposal to domestically develop and manufacture coronavirus vaccines, mitigate the economic fallout caused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, secure the shipping lanes, nullify sanctions, and fight off the threat of foreign-sponsored terrorist groups, he said.
“We successfully managed to shut off all the openings that the enemy had created. The safest shipping lanes now belong to those vessels carrying the Iranian flag,” Salami added.