The naval arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) unveiled on Saturday an underground base in the country’s southern waters, according to footage aired by state television.
The broadcaster, AFP said, showed that the base houses dozens of assault boats equipped with missile launchers.
“This facility, which houses missile assault boats, lies 500 meters underground on the southern waters of Iran,” the report said. It did not reveal the location of the base.
IRGC commander General Hossein Salami toured the base with naval arm commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the footage showed.
“We assure the great nation of Iran that their young people are capable of coming out honorable and victorious from a battle on the seas against enemies big and small,” Salami said.
Salami's visit comes just days before Donald Trump's inauguration as US president on Monday for a second term of office.
During his first term, Trump pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” against Iran, abandoning a 2015 nuclear agreement and reimposing sweeping sanctions.
State television said some of the vessels kept at the base unveiled on Saturday were “capable of destroying US warships and destroyers.”
In a rare video released on January 10, the Iranian state TV showed Salami and Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh touring an underground missile storage facility that had been used to launch around 200 missiles at Israel last October. These included for the first time hypersonic weapons.
At the time, Iran said the attack came in retaliation for the assassination in July of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and in response to the Israeli air strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27 that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Brig-Gen Abbas Nilforoushan, the operations commander of the IRGC’s overseas arm, the Quds Force.
Israel announced in late October that it had struck military targets inside Iran in response to the Iranian attacks.
