TEHRAN, Iran: In a climactic battle at sea, an Iranian commander orders his forces to open fire on a much larger US fleet, obliterating it with a barrage of rockets, some of which tear American flags from their masts.
The scenario unfolds in “Battle of the Arabian Gulf II,” a new Iranian animated film more than four years in the making that imagines a devastating response to an American attack on the country’s nuclear program.
The movie has begun showing in the city of Mashhad, where it was produced, and will open in other cities in the coming weeks.
The nearly 90-minute film, a sequel to a production about the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, begins with a US attack on an Iranian nuclear reactor.
A character who closely resembles Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, leads a single vessel against more than a dozen American warships. When a US commander orders him to surrender or die, he replies: “General, I am not a diplomat, I am a revolutionary!”
He warns that any American soldiers taking part in an attack on Iran “should order their coffins,” before his forces destroy the whole US fleet.
The real-life Soleimani has directed Iranian-backed forces in Syria and helped Iraq fight Daesh.
In recent years he has gained near-mythic status in Iran, where he is seen as resisting US hegemony in the region.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, refused to comment on the film.
Director Farhad Azima said the film cost $250,000 to make, and that producers raised the funds from ordinary people. He said there was no government involvement in the project.
“This is a response to hundreds of (anti-Iranian) American movies and video games,” he said. “We are saying that if you fire one bullet against Iran, a rain of hot lead will be poured on your forces.”
Iranian film hails demise of US Navy in imagined Gulf battle
Iranian film hails demise of US Navy in imagined Gulf battle
Iran offers concessions on nuclear program
- Atomic energy chief says it will dilute enriched uranium if US eases sanctions
TEHRAN: Iran offered on Monday to dilute its highly enriched uranium if the US lifts sanctions.
Mohammad Eslami, head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization, did not specify whether this included all sanctions on Iran or only those imposed by the US.
The new move follows talks on the issue in Oman last week that both sides described as positive and constructive.
Diluting uranium means mixing it with blend material to reduce the enrichment level, so that the final product does not exceed a given enrichment threshold.
Before US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities in June last year, Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent, far exceeding the 3.67 percent limit allowed under the now-defunct nuclear agreement with world powers in 2015.
According to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Iran is the only state without nuclear weapons that is enriching uranium to 60 percent.
The whereabouts of more than 400 kg of highly enriched uranium that Iran possessed before the war is also unknown. UN inspectors last recorded its location on June 10. Such a stockpile could allow Iran to build more than nine nuclear bombs if enrichment reached 90 percent.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iranians on Monday to resist foreign pressure.
“National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and resolve of the people,” Khamenei said. “Show it again and frustrate the enemy.”
Nevertheless, despite this defiance, Iran has signaled it could come to some kind of deal to dial back its nuclear program and avoid further conflict with Washington.
