Iran has started constructing new naval bases along the coast of the Sea of Oman for an " impenetrable line of defense," the English-language daily Tehran Times reported on Thursday.

The new bases will extend from Bandar Abbas, a major Iranian seaport on the Strait of Hormuz, to Pasa Bandar near the Pakistan border, Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari was quoted as saying.

"The new mission of the Navy is to establish an impenetrable line of defense at the entrance to the Sea of Oman," Sayari said, adding the new bases will be constructed rapidly.

"If the enemy goes insane, we will drown them at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman before they reach the Strait of Hormuz and the entrance to the Persian Gulf," he vowed.

On Monday, Iran's Armed Forces also inaugurated a new naval base in the strategic port of Jask, east of the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran.

Iran's Deputy Army Commander Brigadier General Seied Abdolrahim Moussavi said Tuesday that the aircraft carriers of the enemy, " like the elements of the computer games," are under the gaze of Iran's Armed Forces.

The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Moussavi as saying that the new naval base in Jask would function as a "protective barrier in the eastern parts of the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman."

The United States and Israel have consistently refused to rule out the possibility of military strikes against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear program.

The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran has denied the U.S. charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2008)