Iranian troops march during the annual military parade in Tehran marking the anniversary of Iran's war with Iraq. (FATEMEH BAHRAMI/GETTY IMAGES AGENCY VIA BLOOMBERG)

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled scores of new and upgraded defensive speedboats with a warning to the US that it won’t shy away from challenging American naval power.

While battling sanctions and a major coronavirus outbreak, Iran is still determined to make a display of strength as tensions with the US continue to simmer

“Today we announce that wherever the Americans are, we’re right there beside you, and in the near future you will sense us even more,” IRGC Navy Commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said on the sidelines of a ceremony in the Persian Gulf, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.

While battling sanctions and a major coronavirus outbreak, Iran is still determined to make a display of strength as tensions with the US continue to simmer. A month ago, President Donald Trump ordered the navy to destroy any Iranian vessels harassing US ships, after accusations that the IRGC’s craft dangerously approached American military vessels in what US Central Command said were international waters of the Persian Gulf.

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It’s not clear if all the vessels shown at the ceremony were new or how many have been refurbished. The IRGC received a number of Ashoura and Zulfaghar-class vessels -- the same models unveiled Thursday -- from the Defense Ministry in March 2016, state TV reported at the time.

Iran Ratchets Up Warnings to US Over Tensions in Persian Gulf

Earlier this month, Iran’s regular navy lost 19 sailors in a friendly fire incident involving its own ships during a military exercise in the Gulf of Oman. The Guard is also building a new vessel that will be named after General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a US air strike in Iraq in January, according to Tangsiri.

Hostilities between Iran and the US have worsened dramatically over the past year after Washington renewed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and designated the IRGC -- the largest branch of Iran’s armed forces -- a terrorist organization. Tensions almost spilled over into outright conflict after the US killed Soleimani.

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“The Islamic Republic Iran will not back down nor will we bow before any enemy,” General Hossein Salami, commander of the IRGC, said in a speech broadcast on state TV. “Defense is our logic in war, but that defense does not mean passivity. Our operations and tactics are offensive and we’ve shown this in the field.”