In this file handout photo made available by the Iranian Army office on Dec 28, 2019, a view of warships during joint Iran-Russia-China naval drills in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman. (IRANIAN ARMY OFFICE / AFP)

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is seeking to establish a new permanent base to increase security in the Gulf of Oman and the entry to the Indian Ocean, according to its top admiral.

Waters around Iran have sporadically become flashpoints as the US tightened its economic offensive on the Islamic Republic

The base would help counter pirates and foreign vessels, and could be completed by the end of the Iranian calendar year next March, Alireza Tangsiri told Fars News Agency on Monday, without elaborating on the planned location. 

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The Gulf of Oman is at the eastern end of the Persian Gulf and flows into the Arabian Sea.

Waters around Iran have sporadically become flashpoints as the US tightened its economic offensive on the Islamic Republic.

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In April, Guard Corps gunboats approached American ships at close range, prompting President Donald Trump to order the US Navy to open fire in any repeat confrontation. Iran, Russia and China late last year held joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean.

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