This was stated a few hours ago by Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The remarks of Admiral Fadavi, however, are in contrast with the recent moderate and open positions towards the West by President Hassan Rouhani. Situation, therefore, that says about the disagreements within the Islamic Republic.
Iran, no longer secret, has built a simple replica of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in a shipyard in the southern port of Bandar Abbas.
Fadavi, speaking this morning at the semi-official press agency 'Fars', said that the immense size of the American aircraft carrier makes them an easy target. The destruction of American carriers - added Fadavi - are a priority for the naval forces of the Republican Guard, as aircraft carriers are the symbol of US military power in the world.
Admiral Fadavi then added that in a recent exercise carried out precisely against some "fake American ships", the Iranian armed forces destroyed the most dangerous ships in less than 50 seconds. According to 'Tasnim', a news agency close to the Guard Republican, to sink a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, 24 would need swarm-launched missiles (similar idea only conceptually to the far more deadly 'Kirov' attack technique with its twenty "SS-N-19 Shipwreck" armored missiles weighing seven tons per carrier).
The naval forces of the Revolutionary Guard, small boats armed with anti-ship missiles, are independent of the main Iranian Navy. They are deployed along the territorial waters of the Persian Gulf.
Whatever Iran hopes to do with its mock-up - they have readily replied by the US NAVY Fifth Fleet command - is absolutely useless. Because one thing - added the commander Jason Salato, spokesman for the "US NAVY 5th Fleet" - is launching missiles against a floating structure anchored to the seabed, while at the same time it is attacking a warship from 100 thousand tons, with capacity of maneuvering at a speed of thirty knots, fifty fighters on board and a naval battle group in his defense.
The Iranian Nimitz
Last March, US intelligence analysts found that Iran built a giant fake carrier, very similar in shape to the US Navy's Nimitz class ships. Satellite images confirmed the construction that took place at the Gachin site near Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf. Work would begin last summer.
The Iranian replica measures 1100 feet in length (333 meters), as does the Nimitz. Adopt the same color as the American super doorkeepers. Even fighters, obviously fake, were recreated on the bridge.
That built by the Iranians is not a functioning aircraft carrier. It is an immense barge built to resemble an American aircraft carrier.
It is clearly another expensive bluff. It is not excluded, in fact, that the fake aircraft carrier, if the tension between Iran and the United States should reach the stars, could be the goal of a fake missile attack by Iranian forces artfully mounted for internal propaganda purposes.
Deception is a technique very often used to strengthen consensus and political leadership typical of totalitarian or militarized governments.
Franco Iacch
(in the pictures: the real USS Nimitz above, the copy below)
