Today the most important issue on the agenda of [Irans] Navy is to providesecurity in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb, Sayyari said on Sunday.
He added that Iranian naval forces have so far escorted 3,850 Iranian commercial and tanker ships as well as 25 foreign vesselsin the Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden regionswhere pirates are active.
The Iranian naval fleetsare currently present in the Gulf of Aden, Sayyari said, adding that the Alvand destroyer and the Bushehr logistic vesselwere dispatched to the high seas on October 6 for a nearly five-month mission.
For the first time, we have managed to sail around the Cape of Good Hope which is itself a record, the Navy chief said, notingthat new vessels would join the Navy soon.
In recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and hardware.
Iran has also conducted major military drills to enhance defense capabilities of its armed forces and to test modern military tactics and state-of-the-art army equipment.
The Islamic Republic has frequently announced that its military might poses no threat to other countries, stating that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence.
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