Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami speaking in Tehran. Photo: Reuters/Nazanin Tabatabaee

i24 News – The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) vowed on Saturday to reach “the enemy” far and near as tensions soar on key shipping routes where Tehran’s allies have been attacking vessels.

“Today, we are facing an all-out battle with the enemy,” said Guards commander Hossein Salami at a ceremony in the southern Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, where the IRGC’s navy unveiled a new ship named “Abu Mahdi” and 100 missile launchers.

"The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways."https://t.co/deS2Em4a9z via @whitehouse pic.twitter.com/7I9oRbjlrR

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 3, 2024

Salami did not name the enemy, but the statement comes as 22 nations have agreed to participate in a U.S.-led coalition to safeguard commercial traffic in the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement.

Many major shipping companies have switched to the longer and more costly route around the Africa’s Cape of Good Hope rather than pass through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12% of global trade.

Additionally, UK’s Minister of Finances Jeremy Hunt on Saturday stated that Houthis’ hostilities in the Red Sea could impact British economy.

“We need to defend our national interests to wherever they extend,” Salami said in a televised speech. “It will be harmful for the enemy to be found near and at a half distant. They should stay away from this area.”

The Guards’ navy, he said, had made a “brilliant leap in its offensive and defensive powers” to challenge the world’s naval powers. According to Iranian media, Iran’s Alborz warship entered the Red Sea earlier this month to secure shipping routes.

Meanwhile, an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on Friday was reported deployed in the Red Sea.

#ICYMI 📸: Sailors aboard guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) practice emergency response scenarios during a training drill, Dec. 6. Carney is deployed to the Middle East to help ensure the free flow of merchant shipping in regional waterways.#RESOLUTECOMMITEDSUCCESSFUL pic.twitter.com/G2rVecCUWv

— U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet (@US5thFleet) January 5, 2024