Discussing the Iranian navy's daily confrontations with US vessels, a senior Iranian official military boasted that the Americans will "lose their life and existence" in a struggle against Tehran.According to Iran's semi-official FARS news agency, on Wednesday, during a speech addressing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Basij security forces, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi emphasized the power of his country's coast-to-sea missile systems and fleet of high-powered speed boats, whose purpose is to counter American warships in the region, especially in the Persian Gulf. "The Americans have realized today that if they embark on war they will sustain defeat, given the Islamic Revolution's capabilities, Fadavi" said. A naval confrontation with the US has long been one of the scenarios that the Iranian military has prepared for, the likelihood of which has increased since tensions, spurred on by the current Yemen conflict, have escalated. In April an Iranian convoy bound for Yemen reversed its course after a US aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, advanced into the area to secure the Saudi blockade on the war-stricken Gulf country, The US has repeatedly warned Iran not to arm the Shi'ite Houthi rebels, whose fight against Saudi coalition forces in Yemen, began when Riyadh began bombing the militia's positions in late March. Washington hopes to minimize the Islamic Republic's influence in the region, where it has been deploying and bolstering its proxies, much to the disdain of its adversary, Saudi Arabia. In February, Iran carried out a military drill in which it booby-trapped and mined the Straits of Hormuz and even launched hundreds of rockets at a life-size replica of a US aircraft carrier, the class of warships that Washington maintains near the Persian Gulf. Speaking candidly, in March, the commander of Iran's navy outwardly admitted that "the Americans, and the entire world, know that the American Navy is one of our targets."It will take us 50 seconds to destroy every US warship," he added.
