Iran’s Guards open new naval base along Strait of Hormuz

The IRGC this week opened a new naval base at Sirki, a coastal Iranian town east of the Strait of Hormuz. In a bellicose speech aimed at Washington, the Guards commander Maj-Gen Hossein Salami said: “With the opening and unveiling of this base, the country’s combat operations, ship operations, reconnaissance as well as defensive and offensive operations in the Persian Gulf will further develop,”  Iran has often threatened to close the strait, one of the world’s key chokepoints through which one fifth of the world’s oil consumption transits.