Report: Saudi Arabia and Iran discuss naval alliance

Iranian Navy commander says his country is working on naval alliances with Gulf neighbors, confirms UAE withdrew from US-led naval alliance.

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani has announced a regional naval alliance.

Speaking on television on Friday night, Irani said that the Gulf countries understand that cooperation is necessary in order to ensure their security.

According to him, there is already a three-way naval alliance between Iran, Russia, and China, with the three countries carrying out joint exercises each year.

“Soon we will bear witness to the fact that our entire region will be rid of any illegitimate force, and the peoples of our region will have control on the matter of security, by means of their own forces,” he said.

Iran has consistently demanded the removal of US forces from the Persian Gulf, and it has territorial claims in some of the Gulf countries.