(DailyAnswer.org) – Iran has challenged both President Joe Biden and a global treaty by declaring Antarctica its property and making plans to build a base there. According to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute based in Washington D. C., Rear Admiral Shahram Irani claimed in September 2023 that Iran has “property rights” to Antarctica and seeks to carry out both scientific and military work in the continent. The navy commander declared that the beaches of Makran connect the Iranians to the South Pole and that the property rights belong to the public.
The news of the country’s ambitions in Antarctica comes as tensions continue to mount between Iran’s navy and the United States over attacks on cargo vessels in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea by Iran’s navy and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. As the Yemeni insurgents continued to attack ships in acts they claim are in solidarity with Palestinians, the White House accused Iran in December 2023 of deep involvement in the attacks.
A spokesperson for the US State Department was asked by Fox News whether $6 billion of Iran’s funds unfrozen in Qatar by the US could be used to invest in Antarctica, to which the spokesperson replied that this must not be allowed and that the funds are there for strictly humanitarian purposes.
President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, dismissed this claim and declared that the Iranian government will use the funds wherever it needs them. The Antarctic Treaty that came into effect in 1961 has a provision explicitly stating that no country may use the continent after 1961 to make any territorial claim. Senior military and intelligence analyst for the Jerusalem Post Yonah Jeremy Bob commented that Iran’s plans would both violate several conventions and further display the country’s global aggression.
The September 2023 deal negotiated by Biden with Iran remains controversial; the unfreezing of the $6 billion in exchange for the release of five American citizens bypassed Congress, leading to accusations that the president was giving the country what it wanted and granting a leading sponsor of terrorism access to funds leading up to the October 7th attack on Israel. Bob argued that the move stresses the critical role of Israel and Mossad in preventing the state from gaining access to nuclear weapons.
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