U.S. navy says no sign yet of new Iran naval bases

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The U.S. navy has no information that Iran has begun construction of planned new naval bases on the eastern approach to the Gulf, a senior commander said on Wednesday.

An Iranian navy commander said in October that Iran had begun building a series of bases along its southern coast on the Sea of Oman and up to the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance to the Gulf, to improve its defensive capabilities.

"Not that I'm aware of," vice-admiral William Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Manama, when asked whether he had any evidence that construction had begun.

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