Iran has created a new naval militia made up of mercenaries from around the region to attack enemies in its neighborhood and particularly off Yemen, the exiled opposition alleges.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) says the unit had been created as part of the Quds Force, the arm of the Revolutionary Guards responsible for extra-territorial operations.
“The Quds Force has been recruiting mercenaries for newly created, armed and trained terrorist units to attack ships and maritime targets in the region,” it says in a report based on information received from Iran.
In an April 2, 2021 photo released by the US Navy, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel cuts in front of the US Coast Guard ship USCGC Monomoy in the Persian Gulf. (US Navy via AP)
The NCRI, which is outlawed in Iran and is the political wing of the People’s Mujahedin, says the mercenaries are being hired from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Africa.
The fighters are brought to Iran for training and then sent back to their home countries to conduct the operations, it says.
“The strategy affords the politically weakened and vulnerable Iranian regime a veneer of plausible deniability for its proxy war in the region, as it seeks to augment the export of terrorism on which it depends,” the group adds.
The aim is to “disrupt maritime navigation of commercial ships, to attack ports, conduct ship hijackings and plant mines.”
It is not immediately possible to verify the claims.
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