Sailors onboard the Iranian Navy’s 66th flotilla took to international waters Tuesday to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the Iran Islamic Revolution by shouting angry insults and threats at U.S. and Israeli naval forces.
The semi-official IRNA newsagency reports the taunts and challenges took place in international waters around the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen.
“Down with the U.S.” and “Down with Israel” were the chosen cries of Iranian naval defiance.
Students from Imam Khomeini Naval University of Noshahr, northern Iran, are on board some of the ships as part of their training period and they enthusiastically grasped the chance to hurl abuse across the waters, according to IRNA.
The 10-day period of commemorations in Iran mark the period from Imam Khomeini’s return from Paris to Tehran on February 1, 1979 until the revolution’s finale on February 11.
It is celebrated in Iran annually and is dubbed as the Ten-Day Fajr (Dawn).
Little is known of the overall size, strength or disposition of the Iran navy, although as Breitbart News reported, retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones, former national security adviser during the Obama administration, said in 2017 if Iran ever followed through on its threats to block international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, he would be happy to see it “disappear.”
It is not known if indeed any U.S. or Israeli warships were in the vicinity Tuesday to hear the Iranian sailors’ shouted threats and claims of impending naval warfare victory.