Iran is turning commercial ships into armed military platforms with drones, missiles, and cutting-edge reconnaissance systems, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated on Monday.
According to Gallant, these “floating terror bases” were a continuation of the continuous maritime terrorism carried out by Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.
He claimed that Tehran’s “pirate policy” aims to reach out to the coastlines of the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and even the Indian Ocean.
At a symposium hosted by Reichman University’s Institute for Policy and Strategy, Gallant stated that Iran was acting more like a group of criminal organizations than a civilized state.
“This is a structured plan designed to threaten trade and flight routes—both military and civilian—and to create a permanent threat in the maritime arena,” he claimed.
The Iranian military attacked Campo Square, a ship flying the flag of Liberia, in February.
Zodiac Maritime, a shipping business run by Israeli millionaire Eyal Ofer, owns the ship.
According to briefings from U.S. military officials, the event featured “Shahed 136” suicide drones and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval vessels.
These are the same unmanned aircraft systems that the Iranian government supplied to Russia for use as kamikaze drones in Ukraine.
Tehran has targeted commercial ships linked to Israeli leaders on numerous occasions, including a missile attack near the coast of Oman in 2021 that claimed the lives of two members of the ship’s crew.
The formation of coalitions and international collaboration are the best ways to counter Iranian terrorism “in the air, at sea, and on land,” according to Gallant on Monday.
His remarks came in the wake of information indicating that a nuclear facility Iran is building close to the Zagros Mountains is so deeply underground that it is probably beyond the reach of a U.S. weapon intended to destroy such installations.
Iranian laborers can be seen digging tunnels nearby the Natanz nuclear complex in central Iran, roughly 140 miles south of Tehran, according to satellite imagery.
Experts at the center told the AP that Iran is likely developing a facility at a depth of between 260 and 328 feet based on the size of dirt mounds and other satellite data.
Due to these facilities, the United States developed the precision-guided, 30,000-pound GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), also known as the “bunker buster” bomb. The U.S. military claims that this bomb can pierce at least 200 feet of ground before exploding.
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