Well, this is hilarious. In addition to saying it knows all the secrets of America’s infamous RQ-170 Sentinel UAV, Iran is claiming to have control over who enters and exits the Persian Gulf.
Yes, Iran is trying to imply that American carrier battle groups are checking in with the Iraniang Revolutionary Guard Corps to make sure its ok they enter the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. Here’s what Iran’s official FARS news agency is “reporting” on the matter.
A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said that all vessels, including the US warships, enter the Persian Gulf waters through the Strait of Hormuz only after they are checked by the IRGC naval forces.
“The alien vessels which enter the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz always provide the needed answers and information to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) units,” Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Naval Force Alireza Tangsiri said on Wednesday.
He further noted the deployment of a US aircraft carrier in the region, and said, “This vessel, similar to the other warships, answered all the questions asked by the IRGC Navy without any problem or making any particular move and then continued the path to its specified destination.”
It sounds to me like Iran is trying to spin a situation where IRGC vessels might literally say hello to U.S. warships transiting the Gulf and get a response as is normal in the high seas. U.S. Navy ships are definitely not seeking Iran’s permission to enter the Gulf — home of the American 5th Fleet at Bahrain.
While Iran’s latest statement it laughable, it’s submarines, missile boats, swarming speedboats and coastal-launched missiles may pose some threat to American forces in the region, U.S. naval officials are worried about Iran’s ability to mine the heck out of the relatively narrow strait.
Just last week several admirals working on expeditionary power projection lamented the fact that countermine techniques cannot detect mines and clear paths through minefields fast enough. More on this tomorrow.
H/T to BI
{ 93 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh Iran… that's just cute.
In all seriousness this article me of a story someone mentioned on DTech or DODbuzz regarding Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper's straight up domination with just a small fleet of boats in 2002's war games… awesome:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/washington/12na…
I may not be remembering correctly, but wasn't there supposed to be an LCS module designed for mine sweeping? I'm sure we're prepared for a situation in the Strait of Hormuz, but it'd be nice to know we have something clever up our sleeves.
Yes, Riper did kick a** in that wargame, but remember that's why they had to play it through again, with a script, they didn't like that he could do that…
Van Riper's deal was a wake up call but unfortunately as with all embarrassment in DC the result was over reaction. We didn't lack the ability deal with swarming boats, we just didn't bother to deploy for the threat.
LCS does have a counter mine module and l think l read it is the only one actually working.
Van Riper was a fraudster, for example all the ships he used on his team would magically regenerate after being destroyed and the weapons they used needed no targeting data, eg they knew where to launch their ASM's without ever having any real targeting data. The whole things been debunked more times than i can remember. Don't read too much into it.
Actually, no, it would NOT be nice to know we have a trick up our sleeves. Any hint at such might lead the IRGC to try something else, thus countering that trick we may/may not have up our sleeve. But its still hilarious- I can see it now:
IRGC: Hi! Please don't hurt us, ok?
USN: Ok, we won't hurt you today.
IRGC: Thank you very much! How are you today?
USN: Not bad. Rescued some more of your sailors from pirates.
IRGC: Oh thank you very much! Can you drop them off?
USN: No problem
All questions asked by the IRGC before USN vessels continued to destination
That situation just s**** a**. I have met scores of Iranians here in the States and nearly to a person they are hard working, friendly people that are owners of their own business all out of proportion to their numbers. And they are here, and there is a bunch of reactionary bozos running their home country into the ground. No easy answers.
The Iranians who came here fled the revolution. Either they helped depose the Shah and then ran for their lives when the religious right took over the revolution,or they left with the Shah in the first place.
Blight, My Iranian friends at work identify themselves as Farsi (they went through HELL in Iran because they were Christians). They point out that the religious right in ANY country are scary people…
Two of my best friends growing up were Farsi (Iranian)… They fled Iran when the Shah was deposed and gave up everything trying to come to the US. They are wonderful, hard-working people.
Farsi is a language. Persian is an ethnicity. Persian is the majority ethnicity in Iran (aka: Persia). Dari is another major language and found mostly in eastern Persia (Afghanistan). Many Sufists and other minority Islamic sects that straddle the border between modern Iran and Afghanistan speak dialects of these languages. Dari is spoken around Herat, an ancient eastern Persian city located currently in Afghanistan (what was once eastern Persia). Now, Shiite Islam is the majority religion in Iran and the "revolution" has resulted in the persecution of both ethnic and religious minorities. Zoroastrianism started in Persia (Iran) and is the world's oldest monotheistic religion (as recorded). It is also believed to be the basis for Judaism….but that's another discussion!
They have their political bozos and we have ours. Politicians everywhere are the same, we just have bigger guns.
AFAIK IRNA is the official news agency http://irna.ir/ENIndex.htm
FARS is semi-official and seems to carry the over the top and propaganda prone news (sensationalist perhaps).
among the questions asked, "You're not going to kill us, please?"
Not a navy man, but I thought it was a matter of routine for US Navy warships to respond and identify themselves if a query is made by another vessel.
If living in their fantasy world amuses the Iranians, and doesn’t harm anyone else, then let them play their little games. They’ll no doubt soon be giving permission for a whole load of MOPS to check into their airspace too.
Thats all ships.
Hey remember when the Irans said we couldnt go into the straight a few months ago? Yea we went in anyways.
There's a joke that's made its rounds on the internet the last couple years. A USMC plane is flying a patrol in Iraq and Iran calls it on the radio accusing it of entering Iranian airspace. After going back and forth on whose airspace the plane is in, the Iranians threaten to scramble interceptors. The pilot says "This is a United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Super Hornet. Send them up, I'll wait!"
Haha!! Good one!! This one is as good as the USMC against the Taliban! Ends with the Tali leader sending 100 troops over the hill against 1 USMC, and one lone survivor coming back stating "He lied! There's really 2 of them!"
The last part of the story with all the talk about the threats they pose is all thats worth reading.
…do they really need to expose what deficiencies we have? This is the problem I have with the government, and the media. There are some things that dont need to be put out there. There are some things that the media (and all of the rest of us) really dont need to know….USN retired
Silly but interesting. This is a great story to show those that think apologies by government officials don't mean much in that part of the world.
As an Iranian expat I have t say the more tense the situation gets the longer will these people stay in Iran. The best solution is to the opposite way actually.
The more interaction the more likely for the people over there to overthrow their government.
US unfortunately acts in its own interest or its politicians interest I should say. Iran should also be friendly towards Israel. My neighbors in Iran were jews ffs. There a lof of jews in Iran. What did people from Israel do to us anyway.
From our POV Americans installed this regime back in 1978. And like many times before. You harvest what you plant.
Hi Mike, not trying to start an argument here, just curious on your POV. How exactly did the Americans install this regime, if I remember correctly, we were supporting the Shah who was overthrown by the revolution.
carter had the chance to do something but he held out the oilive branch only for them to take a dump on him.carter should of had the guts crushed iran then and there and we wouldn't have a terrorist nation we have today.Thanks jimmy you moron.
Huh?
Iran's own military refused to destroy a protest movement that was secular left, centrist and religious right. There was a general lack of confidence in the Shah, who had become deeply unpopular in the midst of an economic slump, and some 2000 or 3000 year anniversary of Persepolis celebration that reeked of Louis XVI; along with pushing secularism on a country not ready for it.
Then again, some of it was Iran doing something nice for Iraq and Saddam then kicking Ayatollah to Paris and giving him an european/international audience. Never helps.
You are correct about Shah( the last king). His father was installed by Great Britain. But at the end of his(mid 70's) his relationship with US went down AND surprise surprise he wanted to increase oil prices by connecting it to the inflation.
After the Shah gave up his power what happened was just like in the "arab spring" back then. A modern democracy was installed.
Anyways, there is overwhelming evidence about US involvements when Khomeini all of the sudden came to Iran from Paris and was installed.
You can read more here(I found the article posted on a Ron Paul website) http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?19693…
You would not belive how much modern persian people are like americans. More then most European countries. The situation right now is really very unfortunate. The world would have been a much better place if 1978 would not have happened.
The fanatics are about(nowdays) 10-15%. 1978 it was 1-2%
I was born in Iran(I hate to call myself Iranian) and I believe you’re wrong, so very wrong! unlike the American people/government, I know my people an Iranian government.
This generation of Iranians DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR GOVERNMENT ONE BIT and unlike their fathers they are too chicken to rise up and make another revolution. so don’t get your hopes up
There is one and only way to get rid of this problem and its war.(and I cant stress enough how key is this)
It hurts me deeply to say this because I love Americans with all of my heart, but 1000 losses are better than 10000.
and no Iranians are not like Iraqis of Afghans, you don’t have to stay in the country and there will be no terrorist attacks
—————————————————
Iraqis or* Afghans
Who said anything about Iranians rising up and revolt against the government? What I meant with do the opposite is they will be destroyed from within once the economy gets better and the greed sets in. Money is the solution according to me!
With money the rest will follow…
The economy was much better than today when Reagan took office, The US had an embassy in Iran (till Iran’s hostage crisis)
and what did they do? they closed the embassy the day Reagan took office( Not 100% sure)
—————–
Iranian government was/is a pathetic(but dangerous) piece of **** and it stays that way.
in other words: Interacting with this government will not work, you’ll understand sooner or later
Hi Ara,
I understand how devastating it must be to have out-of-control fanatics running your country. It is also sad that so many U,S. citizens are so ignorant about your recent history and the threat your country is to us and many countries. It is next to impossible for us to conceive what it must be like to live in a terrorist state. Most of the mockery is little more than macho chest pounding.
These guys are as funny as the knights who say, Ni……….
You can not pass the Straight of Hormuz without giving us a Shrubbery!!!
http://youtu.be/QTQfGd3G6dg
I was thinking more of "Answer me these questions three…"
"What!…. is your favorite color?"
The funny headline says it all! I think iran is smoking their own stuff a little to much.Oh! and thanks jimmy carter for todays iran you lame pussyfooted dummy.carter the second worst president ever obama being the worst knocking carter after decades of holding the # 1 position.
Such a ignorant position to take to blame President Carter for an internal revolution after the Shah left power we had nothing to do with their internal politics. Of course people like you just want to hate anyone not Republican since you can't admit any mistakes at all were made by George H. W. Bush since he was CIA Director at that time. Try reading a little more and listen to less Fox Noise.
the deleted word in my comment had to do with cats but the other term.
I was having fun playing mad-lib with it!
And in other news Ahmadinejad has a three hour conversation with Kim Jong-il on his invisible cell phone
Does anyone remember the Iranian flying boats? That was the best.
is the sub in that photo being towed?
Yes it would appear so. Good catch
No, its…… its…… its pushing another ship. Ya thats it, its pushing a ship with a giant push pole that just looks like a tow cable. In fact its pushing a broken American ship, American ships are inferior to Irans mighty warships!
The amazing thing to me is we sell our fighters and other eqpt to other countries and will not give them the source codes to our stuff,now all of a sudden Iran says they have cracked our codes when not even some of our most trusted allies can.I would like to get my hands on whatever it is they're smoking-I'd be a millionaire.
What i'm getting at is they are as delusional about controlling the straits as they are about cracking our codes.
I don't think they were referring to software source codes. I think it's the control codes.
No, they recently stated they cracked our codes. To prove it, they pulled the un- or light- encypted maintenance logs and claimed it was used over Abottobad a couple weeks prior to the OBL mission. I always wonder how they spin it whenever their sailors are rescued from pirates by Americans….
it would be much easier to gain access to source codes by cracking passwords. In fact, I don't think software source codes can be "cracked", even by the best minds in the world (this is a mathematical question).
One might be able to track down some properties of a program. But cracking the source? I don't believe it. Mathematically, it seems this would lead to a contradiction to a proven result in Computer Sciences – you cannot verify the correctness of a program with another program.
That would be funny if it Iran wasn't so pathetic. More propaganda to keep hard liners in Iran pleased compared to the truth that if the US wanted we could snuff out Iran in a instant.
I laughed but was impressed by the description as "alien vessels". Gotta give 'em credit where it's due… he could be the next Michael Bay!
In legal terms, the term "alien" references foreign entities. The most obvious reference is "illegal alien" and "Alien Tort Claims Act". Or a translation issue the original language of the statement.
So "alien" (also referencing extraterrestrial life) was a more coherent option than "American"?
They want to appear impartial. Also, they want to reserve the right to limit /whoever/ they wish, and not just Americans.
For instance, if the United States were to launder some DDG's to say…Kuwait or Qatar. Or enlisted allies with modern DDGs to intervene litorally and just hung back with SSGN's…
All I can say is thank god they decided to let us into the Strait!
I'm just an old snipe, so correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't firing on a US warship by a foreign military an act of war? If so, then the mullahs are in for a rude surprise…
So is attacking and taking over a foreign embassy and holding its personnel for some 440 days. ALL embassies, world-wide are considered as property of the country the embassy represents. Iran's leaders allowed this to happen with the US embassy, and many of their current leaders were right there in it as so-called "students". Carter should have gone to Congress and asked for an immediate declaration of war against Iran; and mostly we would not be seeing or be involved in a lot of the stuff we are now-a-days. As in any dictatorship, religious or secular, all they understand is force and power.
In the defense of Carter, we didn't have TLAM for these kinds of things. We were oriented towards delivering nukes standoff, not conventional munitions. This leaves the Navy, which was still stung after meh ops off of Vietnam for little gain.
Carter would probably have seen that airpower didn't deter Vietnam, and since Tehran is far inland you can't pressure political leadership. At the same time, it would involve penetrating Iranian airspace defended with American export-grade hardware, against American trained air defense troops and American-trained pilots. Awkward?
The other possibility is that American embassy workers were used as a distraction while other Americans were extracted from the country. Like aerospace workers disabling export hardware or CIA personnel and their assets.
The USA is the superior country in the world. Americans are the best, the most intelligent, and they have a robust economy where corruption is absent. They are all well educated, have a good sense of humour, and are not naive at all. They travel well and most American citizens own a passport and has travelled abroad.
They have a just society where everybody is free and their government does not interfere with private lives. There is no collusion between the private sector and the government. Their institutions are honest and loyal to the spirit of their forefathers.
The USA is a beacon of morality in the world. American families are balanced and provide a stable environment for their children to grow free of propaganda. They learn quickly that Americans are the best, that only one language is spoken throughout the world, that only one economic system is worth considering, that the US education system does not tend to produce egotistic, full of themselves self-opinionated arrogant morons.
Thanks to the American moral superiority, we can easily conclude that all Iranians are lowly educated, stupid and religiously backward. Therefore it is perfectly logical that the great people of American consider it normal to bomb the Iranians. After all, they are not Americans, and they look funny.
Thanks to our great American leaders, our society is doing better than it ever has. The middle class has seen its purchasing power steadily increased and can enjoy all the comfort of modern life without being worried about their future, their retirement, the destruction of their currency or the hideous moral decay that pervades some societies.
Ah it feels great to me an American, well-fed on genetically engineered, hormones-pumped and antibiotics-saturated, corn syrup-soaked, food-like meat products. Feels great to be obsessed by ridiculous sports in funny clothing that no other country even understands. Feels fantastic to feel normal in an education system that has lowered the average IQ of the nation down to single digits. Feels cool to always know the latest fad, to use the fanciest gadgets and to watch endlessly some neurotic TV shows that praise the great American culture.
We are the future of humanity!
God Bless the United States of America, and nobody else.
America is not perfect we have our flaws like everyone else, but what is keeping you here? You are free to leave any time and you wont be missed.
*United States of America
'Merica!
GTFO then hipster.
The hipster won’t leave, because if he goes any where else he will be thrown in jail for his opinion. He forgets and takes for granted the freedoms of this country that he bad mouths and apparently hatesl
Let's not forget a key item here: I haven't heard of any instance where Iran has been attacked- overtly or covertly- by American forces, have you? Ont he other hand, Iran HAS attacked US forces- in Iraq (where we "capture and release" them like rotten fish) and by proxy with their sponsored terrorist cells. America has NOT demanded the annihilation of Iran, while Iran HAS demanded the death of all Americans. As we can see from this article itself, Iran DOES enjoy a great deal of propaganda. And, as we know from Shi'ia Law, Iran does NOT tolerate non-Muslim religions. So….. how is Iran so great?
Cmon now! Are you serious? American people are OK but your foreign politics sucks really. Just ask anyone when you travel abroad.
I can provide you with so many evidences it will take you weeks to read it all. Here is a start the removal of Iran's first democratically chosen Prime minister Mosadegh by CIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d&…
and the confirmation but hence no apology http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0004/19/i_…
Have you ever thought for one second why US is getting involved in troubles around the world all the time? Basically US is far far away from Europe and Asia. No my friend the last thing US foreign politics can be called is human and humble.
While you do bring up some valid points, you can do it without being sarcastic.
It's silly for the Iranian government to playing this game with us, but you can understand that they do it more for their own moral than to try to fool us. They know we don't swallow anything they say, even if they're right, but they need something to keep their own soldiers happy. Know thine enemy.
If only everyone understood what you do about what is really going on here is about controlling the internal situation, and nothing to do with how they actually feel about the USA as they know we could hurt them in the Gulf with our superior amount of forces. Realistically if everyone including Israel just ignored Iran it would amount to nothing as they are just bluffing to make internal reasons for why the current regime is needed to remain in power.
totally disagree. it's an excellent use of sarcasm. you have absolute no idea about "thine enemy" – you've been brainwashed. learn to read widely and think critically. it will take you 10-20 years, but late is better than never.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLU4N7gmY4&fe…
LOL!!! Good one. This is the kind of Yanks the world would like to see.
that's a response to post by "The Yanks". thumbs up. +1.
The Iranians could, if they wanted to, mine the strait, or bang a couple of Mk48s into tankers or ever a carrier. Tbh, they could, they're just not brave enough.
Sure they could, but Iran wouldbe rendered into a smoking hole within 48 hours. Its like North Korea, at this time they could do some serious damage in the first round, but they dont have a chance in hades against a sustained fight. They might be stupid, but there not stupid enough to pick a fight they know they cant win.
Very hilarious indeed. BUT…..don't think the Iranian military doesn't have a plan. They know they will be outgunned, so I see desperation moves off the bat. Wave after wave of suicide boats loaded with explosives, mines all over the place, short and medium range missles galore. Maybe not the most accurate, but many will be shot off at Israel and possibly the Saudis as well just to get the entire Middle East in a turmoil. It won't be an easy victory without problems.
This gives Iran an opportunity to save face at home. It gives them a mark of success…of control over something that they cannot. It is critical to establishing/maintaining peace. My kids do this all the time. One will be right or first, but the other will say that he/she is. Everyone knows the truth, but what harm is it to allow my son or daughter to claim "victory" for the sake of avoiding a meltdown?
An Iraqi answers his Muslim Iranian brothren, When asked. How did we best fight the Americans.? IRAN.
Wow, you're cool.
Whilst I agree with the article in principle about Iran's statement being a show, the "professional" quality of this article is somewhat lacking. I dunno if it's just me but this really smacks of unprofessional writing and personal opinion, given that it's a worded version of "lol, Iran…". Fairly disappointed as this is normally a fairly worded, balanced website.
Well, regardless of the regime's nature and overall ability at managing the country… the iranian leadership has been running circles around the US one along with their iraqi pals, until the occupation ended not with a bang, but with a whimper; it has been (mostly, the Mantis thingie comes to mind) successfully playing brinkmanship games with the West since, what, 1979?, and, it has been engaged in a complex chess match over the last decade to expand its influence.
Note also its proxies (the West cutting and running out of Lebanon, with the USA leading the way, the bloodied nose hezbollah gracefully gave to Israel back in 2006, the UK misadventures in southern iraq), and its BRICS backing… or even JUST how Iran got hold of that super-duper secret drone… hell, even the captured brit sailors mess?
*Clearly*, Iran is a joke country, that is not to be even talen semi-seriously, iranians are complete retards, backward brown-skinned clowns – let's all laugh at them on the intertubes, shall we?!
Summed up exactly what I was getting towards Kevin. Given that this is a professional level website with employees who have worked, or still work, in the defence sector or international relations, this sort of article just makes me worry because someone who deals with this stuff daily as part of their career is not taking a relatively unstable state seriously. Even though the statement is more than likely spun in Iran's favour, publishing an article that just laughs about it just reflects poorly on the site and the writers as a group.
The West may not explicitly be enemies with Iran, in that we're looking at war quite yet, but whatever happened to "never underestimate your enemy"?
I don't want to get too far into a discussion, I just think that this article was very poorly written compared to DT's usual standard.
The Iranian Navy has three Russian Kilo Class submarines and a passel of "miniature" subs. Also in the neighborhood may be at least one Israeli sub and two to three American subs. The big question will be, who is tracking who with what?
"[...]A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said[...]"
IOW, Baghdad Bob lives on.
Things could have changed but the Iranians always query every ship that enter and exit the Persian Gulf. When I was in the Navy all communication with the Iranians had to be documented and forwarded to higher. It was considered normal and routine for Iran to do this. In no way was it considered that the Iranians were giving us "permission" to enter the Persian Gulf. If I remember correctly most if not all the transit is international waters. The little that Iran claims as territory through the straights(sp?) can also be claimed by Oman ls I knew. There is nothing Iran can do to shut down traffic in or out of the Gulf without violating international law.
All humans breath, laugh, cry,sweat, bleed, yes die…Earth has been for 4 billion years we have pritty much wrecked it in less then 500 years ? Think about it, world wars we have only seen about 100 years. A nuke war will end it all in less then 1 day it took god & or evolution longer to create it all !!! LOL
love & peace my brothers & sisters…i do love to watch the sun rise & set we all should start counting them as miracles. somebody please send this measage to all world leaders.
want & ignorace are terrible.
Send it to Iran and North Korea. The rest of the nations seem to understand mutually assured destruction.
"only after they are checked by the IRGC naval forces"
Yea…just like how the guy at the end of the Maginot line checked the blitzkrieg entering France.
"Excuse me? Will you stop that? No? Well, shit."
The Line stopped at Belgium due to the naive expectation that neutrality would protect the Low Countries along with budget cuts. Perhaps budget cuts were bigger, and the former used to retroactively justify prioritization of Alsace/Lorraine.
I agree with an earlier poster that an attack could be viewed as an Act of War, however, they could also be deluded into thinking it is worth the risk. After all, isn't it world news that we are withdrawing from all fronts in the Middle East and won't we be suffering from a repeat of the Vietnam syndrome? Also, it is a new president who is pulling us out. Would he be willing to start a new conflict? And this is just what a reasonable (sane) person might think.
If Iran, an Iranian politician or high military commander is publicly saying they should attack US. Isn't that an act of war in itself?
Not that anyone from the Iranian side did it. Just trying to make people see the stuff that goes on. I am talking about the daily threats from the US side.
Here is todays: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeq…
by that standard, the US, the UK, and Israel have all committed an act of war against Iran years ago.
The Iranian have many hundreds of surface to ship missiles. This includes many dozens of the 2.3+ MACH Russian Sunburn and Yakhont series, as well as many more good Iranian engineered copies. In case of military conflict, all US vessels in the Persian Gulf would be sunk in less than half an hour. The Persian Gulf is around 120 miles at its widest, the Strait of Hormuz only 40 miles across, 2.3 MACH, you do the math. Many of these missiles are in underground facilities along the coast no amount of bombing could reach. As these missiles can also be hung under jets, any U.S. ships would have to be at least 500 miles off the Iranian coast in the Arabian Sea, or they too would join the U.S. Persian Gulf ships in Davy Jones locker in minutes. Your "military analyst" is a joke. Why don't you hire a professional. I suggest you publish the results of certain U.S. military war games in the Persian Gulf. YES, the Iranians do control the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the Persian Gulf and the Americans sail there only at the Iranian's pleasure.
i think,we just didn't let the,rq 170sentinel.fall into there hands by accident, i believe,there is hidden,viruses/Trojans,within,the computer mainframe,and we let them take it to implant,our advanced/like stunnex,viruses,into there mainframes to use at a later date.our people cant be that stupid to just let a craft like that to fall into there,hands,with out a reason and purpose,did they really hack our program,not a chance in hell we let them
i don know if any of you has acutlly been there but i have visited it before and the truth is only a small part of it is deep enough for big ships and other navy units to pass and iran has blocked it before in the war
WRG is right about what the Iranians I know say, that they are Persians, not Iranian like the current politicians there. Just to make it even more complicated, several of the Persians I know are actually armenian families, (not Armenian nationals though) and most of those are Christian.