Report: Iranian Navy sending ships to Panama Canal to show off authority

The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy is reportedly sending ships to the Panama Canal, with one Iranian commander saying that the move is a show “of the authority of dear Iran.”

According to the Tehran Times, the Iranian Navy has yet to operate in two straits in the world, one of them being the Panama Canal.

Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said on Wednesday that Iranian ships will soon head to the Panama Canal.

“Today, if my comrades are approaching the shores of the American continent, they are showing signs of the authority of dear Iran,” Irani said, according to the Times. 

“As a showcase for the dear people of our country, we appeared in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Of course, along this route, Australia and the French created threats for us and tried to violate the laws they had approved to cross their coasts. But we answered them with authority and according to the law.”

Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told USNI News that the statement “tells one more about Iranian intentions than capabilities, as the regime tries to project strength abroad when it is increasingly looking weak at home.”

Irani previously said in December that the country would be expanding it’s maritime ambitions.

“What is important in the matter of maritime presence is authority … presence in the seas means power and authority,” he said at the time. “The first message that a frigate or submarine sends out is that the country that builds them has acquired the required knowledge to dominate the sea.”