Iranian Navy is to establish presence in The Gambia according to the country’s Navy Chief Admiral Hossein Khanzadi who was quoted as saying "One day the Leader of the Islamic Revolution told us to plan to go to a country like Gambia, where the Americans started slavery," when he appeared in a televised program last Saturday.
Khanzadi noted that the presence of the Iranian Navy, which represents a country that supports the oppressed, also has a special message, and incidentally, Iran’s fleet was present in Gambia last week, reported Tehran Times.
Reporting further on Inran’s navy presence in the Atlantic Ocean, Tehran Times said that “The commander of the Navy also stressed about sending an army fleet to the Atlantic Ocean, saying, "Makran ship is a mobile seaport and it has a good capacity for the presence of our fleets in the high seas. Sahand has sailed for 400 days since its construction, which shows that there is a great capacity of knowledge in the youth of this country.”
Today the Islamic Republic is the country that is setting a precedent in the Atlantic region, Khanzadi stated.
“Of course, part of that presence is because the Americans said the Iranians could not be present in the Atlantic,” he underlined.
According to the Navy chief, it has a special message when a fleet from the Islamic Republic is present in the Cape of Good Hope and the Atlantic Ocean, reports Tehran Times.
This begs the question - did Gambia government sign a deal with Tehran for the naval presence of the Iranian Navy in Gambian waters? A keen Gambian security observer told GunjurOnline when asked about the potential establishment of an Iranian Navy presence in The Gambia.
His words: “Unless our govt signed a deal they did not fully assess, they’re heading down a suicidal path.”
The Gambian Ministry of defense did not respond to requests to shed light on the story at the time of going to press.
Source: Tehran Times