Iran unveiled an underground naval missile base at an undisclosed Gulf location on Saturday, state TV said, two days before the start of US President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.
It was unveiled at a time when tension with Washington is widely expected to rise. Iranian leaders are concerned that Trump might empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, while tightening US sanctions on its oil industry.
During his first term, Trump pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” against Iran, abandoning a landmark nuclear agreement and reimposing sweeping sanctions.
Trump also oversaw the killing of a top Revolutionary Guards general, Qasem Soleimani, in a drone strike on Iraq.
State television showed Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps chief General Hossein Salami visiting the secret base during war games. He said it was one of several built underground for vessels capable of launching long-range missiles and carry out distant warfare.
“We assure the great nation of Iran that their young people are capable of coming out honorable and victorious from a battle on the seas against enemies big and small,” Salami said.
State television said the base was built at a depth of 500 meters (1,650 feet) somewhere in the Gulf, showed tunnels with long rows of what it said were a new version of Taregh-class radar-evading speedboats which can launch cruise missiles, and said that some of the vessels were “capable of destroying US warships and destroyers”.
WATCH: Iran’s IRGC Navy unveils underground base housing combat boats specialized in targeting US warships
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Earlier this month, Iran started military exercises that are due to last two months and have already included war games in which the Revolutionary Guards defended nuclear installations in Natanz against mock attacks by missiles and drones.
Iran, which says its ballistic missiles are an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the US and Israel, has in the past unveiled several “missile cities,” underground missile production facilities with tunnels large enough to hold large trucks and multiple production areas.
Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons. In recent years, however, it has increased its manufacturing of enriched uranium, and it is the only non-nuclear weapons state to possess uranium enriched to 60 percent, according to nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency.
That level is well on the way to the 90 percent enrichment required for an atomic bomb.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
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