Iranian Naval Passage Through Atlantic Prompts US Concern

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA - Two Iranian naval ships that entered the Atlantic earlier this month are traveling north up the west coast of Africa, a top admiral confirmed to VOA. The United States is monitoring the ships’ movements from their current location off Senegal amid concerns Iran could be preparing for an arms transfer in the Western Hemisphere.

“We’re aware that there are two Iranian naval vessels transiting north in the Atlantic,” U.S. Southern Command chief Adm. Craig Faller told VOA in an exclusive interview late Thursday at the close of the 2021 Central American Security Conference in Panama. Iran’s state TV reported on June 10 that the Sahand, an Iranian warship, and the intelligence-gathering vessel Makran had rounded South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and entered the Atlantic Ocean. The report did not identify the ships’ final destination. U.S. officials initially suggested that the ships may be heading for Venezuela, which purchased weapons from Iran over a year ago. Other reports say the ships could be bound for the Mediterranean Sea to meet up with allies Syria or Russia, but a senior U.S. defense official told VOA Friday that was “purely speculation” at this point.