Iran Plans To Build Naval Bases In The South Pole, What For?

Russian naval ships. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim/News Agency/Hamed Michelpour)

JAKARTA - Iran plans to build a naval base in the South Pole region, the country's naval chief said on Thursday.

"Our future plan is to fly the proud Iranian flag in Antarctica," said Navy Commander Admiral Shahram Irani, quoted by The National News on September 28.

"He was surprised to hope to do military and scientific work at the South Pole," he added during a speech to the 86th Fleet prepared for an expedition to Antarctica.

In May, Iran said it hoped to send warships to Antarctica in the near future, and had sent the fleet on a world-wide expedition to prepare for the mission.

Iranian Admiral said the fleet was "breaking the hegemony of world powers," according to the government-run IRNA.

Earlier, the United States this year expressed concern, after Tehran sent warships to Brazil, it said it would send ships to the Panama Canal.

"We have been present in all of the world's strategic straits, and we are not only present in the two straits, one of which we will attend this year, and we plan to be present at the Panama Canal," the Iranian Admiral said in January.

The reference of the Iranian Admiral to the two straits appears to be comments on the Strait of Hormuz, and the Strait of Bab Al Mandab, both of which are one of the busiest shipping lines in the world.

Iran has a large military presence on the Strait of Hormuz and has delivered several ships, on a more limited basis, to Bab Al Mandab, between Yemen and the African continent.

Tehran has also made efforts to strengthen its military and economic alliances in South America and Africa, when tensions with Western countries are still high.

Iran is known to have two navys. One belongs to the Iranian armed forces and the other belongs to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The comments of the Iranian Admiral appeared during a week of military parades commemorating the Iran-Irak War, and a day after Tehran claimed it had successfully launched an imaging satellite into orbit.