Iranian pro-regime media reported on Saturday that the country wants to send elements of its navy to Antarctica in the “near future.”
The Tasnim report did not specify all the details but said that this has been an objective for Iran for many years. In fact, reports back in 2012 suggested Iran wanted to expand its presence. Iran recently sent two ships around the world on a major journey. Those ships went to Brazil and other countries.
Iran is trying to show off that it can project naval power far from home.
Iran's symbolic navy trips around the world
The real meaning of these navy trips is largely symbolic. Iran has a small navy. It has a more dangerous and threatening maritime element in its IRGC naval forces. The official Iranian navy is different than the IRGC navy. The IRGC naval units routinely harass foreign ships in the Persian Gulf and try to challenge the US presence. Iran has also used drones to target commercial ships and recently seized two tankers.
Iran notes that its recent around-the-world trip took place using two ships. One of these was a converted tanker. Therefore Iran’s “navy” actually consists of some ships that are not even traditionally naval ships. Iran wants to play a role in Antarctica apparently just to show off that it can be one of the 52 countries that have signed the Antarctic Treaty, according to Tasnim News.
The report notes that there are now 30 countries with 70 active research centers on the cold continent. So this is a point of pride for Iran. Russia and China are also involved in Antarctica. Iran, China and Russia have collaborated on naval issues in the past.
A point of pride for Iran
Iran says that its presence “in the Antarctic is important from various scientific, legal and political, geostrategic, economic, capacity building and access to new technologies aspects, and in the future, this region will be a major issue on the international scene.” It sees this as strategic.
“The establishment of a permanent base of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the South Pole [region] in order to increase the strategic depth of our country has been considered over the past years, and plans have been announced to realize this, but it is not clear at what stage these plans are now,” the report says.
Iran says that it could achieve direct access to the polar region and therefore claim “sovereignty” in that area.