Rouhani: Iran to turn Jask port into oil hub

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced plans to turn the Southern Iranian port of Jask into an economic and industrial center and an oil hub for exporting crude to different world states. “Petrochemical, steel and aluminum industries will be established in the Jask region, this region will be turned into an industrial region and we will build a port to export oil to the world,” Rouhani said, addressing people in Jask port in Hormozgan province on Wednesday. He also referred to the huge developments of Iran’s Navy in the Jask region in recent years, and said, “These developments will continue and Jask is an important maritime region for Iran’s Southern coasts and also for the security of the sea in the whole region and for displaying the Iranian Navy forces’ braveries in the entire sensitive Persian Gulf region, the Oman Sea and even the Indian Ocean.” Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) is responsible for the security of the Persian Gulf. In 2008, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, former commander of the IRGC and the current military advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, declared that the responsibility for defending the Persian Gulf had been handed over to the IRGC. Iran's naval power has even been acknowledged by foes. In a Sep. 11, 2008 report, the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy said that in the two decades since the Iraqi imposed war on Iran, the IRGC has excelled in naval capabilities and is able to wage unique asymmetric warfare against larger naval forces. According to the report, the IRGC Navy has been transformed into a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well-financed force and is effectively in control of the world's oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz. The study says that if Washington takes military action against the Islamic Republic, the scale of Iran's response would likely be proportional to the scale of the damage inflicted on Iranian assets.