Iranian Army’s Navy Commander says the country’s naval fleet will maintain a presence in the Indian Ocean as well as free waters of the world.

In an interview with the Arabic-language al-Alam television channel Thursday, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, said no foreign country would dare to enter Iran’s territorial waters. Irani said there was no justification for the regional presence of navies from further afield.

Both Iran’s traditional army (Artesh) and the Revolutionay Guard (IRGC) have naval forces.

The commander described the northern Indian Ocean as the “main waterway to connect the continents,” and that if Iran did not have an “effective presence, governments that don’t have the right will come and approach our territorial waters.” Irani said Iran’s fleet would appear “wherever we feel threatened.”

Iran has since 2019 carried out naval exercises with Russia and China and has looked to expand its presence beyond the Red Sea and north-west Indian Ocean. The last major clash between Iran and the United States, whose Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, was quickly resolved diplomatically in 2016 after two American small boats adrift were seized by Iran’s navy after entering Iranian waters.

“We escort our ships in all the waters across the globe to guarantee security… Our presence offers security to the region and the entire world," Irani said.