US ‘Monitoring’ Iran’s Military Presence, Activities in Western Hemisphere

A missile is launched by Iran's military during a navy exercise in the Gulf of Oman in this picture obtained on Jan. 14, 2021. West Asia News Agency/Handout via Reuters

The State Department is monitoring an alleged attempt by Iran to establish a military presence in the Western Hemisphere, an agency spokesperson has confirmed.

The monitoring comes shortly after Iran’s navy commander, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, announced in January that Tehran plans to extend its area of operation to the Panama Canal that divides South and North America, citing a “geopolitical advantage,” according to a Tehran Times report.

Doing so would mark the first time Iran’s military has entered the Pacific Ocean.

A U.S. State Department spokesman told The Washington Free Beacon that the agency is tracking the recent announcement by Iran.

“We are aware of these claims by Iran’s navy,” the spokesman said. “We continue to monitor Iran’s attempts to have a military presence in the Western Hemisphere,” he added, without providing further details.

Separately, Vedant Patel, the principal deputy spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, said at a press briefing on Feb. 1 that the department has seen reports and is “aware of the claims by Iran’s navy” and continues to “monitor for any Iranian plans of naval activities in the Western Hemisphere.”

“We continue to have a number of tools in our toolbelt available to hold the Iranian regime accountable,” Patel added. “We, of course, are not going to preview sanctions, but we will continue to vigorously enforce our sanctions.”

The Brazilian navy announced in January that two Iranian ships—the Iris Dena and Iris Makran—had already docked in Brazil, which is now under the leadership of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, despite being under U.S. sanctions.

Iran, US Nuclear Deal Talks Stall

On Friday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced it was identifying the two ships as property in which the government of Iran has an interest, citing the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.

Washington’s relations with Tehran—which has seen widespread anti-government protests in recent months—have been rapidly deteriorating in recent years as the country continues to advance its nuclear program.

In November, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the head of Israeli military intelligence, warned that Iran is moving closer to reaching 90-percent-enriched uranium, which he stressed posed “the greatest test of the international community.”

Talks between Washington and Iran in an attempt to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, have regularly broken down.

Additionally, Iran has blamed the United States for widespread protests that broke out in the country following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police,” as well as Israel, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia, accusing those nations of attempting to destabilize the country.

Leaders of those nations have denied such claims.

Iran’s interference in the Panama Canal could pose yet another problem for the Biden administration as a number of Latin American nations such as Venezuela—which is reportedly set to sign a multimillion dollar contract with Iran to overhaul its Paraguana refinery complex on the coast of western Venezuela—seek to establish closer relations with Tehran.

Despite the ongoing monitoring, Mojtaba Babaei, a spokesperson for the Iran mission at the United Nations, told Fox News Digital that the “Iranian navy presence in international waters is in accordance with international laws and to gain knowledge, experience and increase capabilities, not against any country.”