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Iran declares ownership of a whole continent, direct challenge to Biden, global treaties

February 15, 2024 | | Print Article

Last fall, many Americans are now surprised to learn, the commander of Iran’s Navy declared in a televised broadcast that the Islamic Republic owns Antarctica and has plans to build a military operation in the South Pole.

Fox News Digital provides an English translation by the Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) of Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani’s late-September remarks: “We have property rights in the South Pole. We have plan to raise our flag there and carry out military and scientific work.”

According to Yonah Jeremy Bob, author of “Target Tehran” and a senior Jerusalem Post military and intelligence analyst, the absurd claim is a sign of Iran’s continued global “trend of aggression.”

“Iran’s future plans to try to expand its military presence and influence into the Antarctic would not only violate multilateral conventions on the issue, but continues the regime’s trend of aggression across the globe,” he told Fox News Digital.

“Whether through terrorism on basically every continent or its rampant piracy in the maritime arena,” he said, “the Islamic Republic continues to show why it is a danger to world stability and why Israel and the Mossad’s role in holding it back from nuclear weapons remains critical.”

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“Every time Tehran expands its tentacles into a new area to disrupt the rules-based order promoted by the West, the U.S. and its allies are given an additional opportunity to take the nuclear threat more seriously,” Bob continued. “Antarctica might seem a distant threat, but if the West acts as meekly as it did when Iran recently kicked out nuclear weapons inspectors, the Islamic Republic will only become further emboldened on other track.”

Jennifer Dyer, a retired commander of U.S. Naval Intelligence, warned that “in theory,” Iran may have a legitimate claim to a chunk of Antarctica.

“It’s an arcane topic, but little lies between Iran’s coast outside the Persian Gulf and the eastern hemisphere side of Antarctica,” she told Fox News Digital.

“In theory, Iran could claim an interest in Antarctica similar to India’s, Australia’s, New Zealand’s or Chile’s (or those of the U.K. and France, for that matter), with their island outposts in the southern hemisphere,” she explained.

But, she argued, their claim would carry little weight, internationally.

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“I can say that raising the flag at the South Pole doesn’t carry any implications in international law,” she countered. “The Antarctic Treaty (which became effective in 1961) has a specific provision that no action by any nation after 1961 can be the basis of a territorial claim on the continent.”

But that may not stop Iran from getting “frisky.”

“Iran isn’t a signatory to the treaty and might try to do frisky things in Antarctica,” Dyer cautioned.

“Those things wouldn’t be recognized by other nations, at least as matters stand now,” she added. “The U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Japan, India, China and Russia are all signatories to the treaty, as are Brazil, and Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, the ‘jumping off’ nations closest to the continent.”

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According to Iranian expert Potkin Azarmehr, it’s likely a sign of Iran’s imminent collapse.

“Everything in Iran is reminiscent of the USSR in its last days before collapse,” Azarmehr told Fox News Digital. “Ambitious but pointless plans by a state with completely wrong priorities. Unable to provide basic services to its people, bankrupt institutions but full of grandiose talks.”

Melissa Fine
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