TEHRAN -- Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy on Thursday took delivery of a new ocean-going warship and nearly 100 missile-launching speed boats.
Equipped with offensive and defensive systems, the Shahid Mahdavi warship was officially added to the IRGC Navy’s fleet in a ceremony in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
Also, 95 Ashura- and Tareq-class missile-launching speed boats joined the IRGC Navy’s fleet.
Speaking at the ceremony, IRGC Navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said the Shahid Mahdavi warship is a heavy, multi-purpose and long-range vessel capable of carrying and operating all kinds of helicopters, drones, and high-speed missile launchers, as well as missile, defense and radar systems.
The 2,100-ton warship has a length of 240 meters and a width of 27 meters, he said, adding that it is equipped with a 3D phased-array radar as well as surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, highly advanced electronic warfare telecommunication systems, and Khordad-3 missile systems, all of which are designed and manufactured by young Iranian technicians.
“Shahid Mahdavi warship is like a mobile maritime city ready to carry out ocean missions … to create sustainable security of sea communication lines and provide aid to the commercial and fishing fleets of the Islamic Republic and regional countries,” The IRGC Navy commander said.
Tangsiri also said the elite military force has converted rocket-launching vessels into missile-launching ones in an “unprecedented” move in the world.
“By the joining of the specialized naval equipment … and the conversion of Ashura- and Tareq-calss rocket-launching vessels into the missile-launching ones with a minimum range of 10 and maximum of more than 180 kilometers, the IRGC Navy has managed to take an important and effective step in upgrading the level of its naval combat power. It is somehow unprecedented in the world,” IRGC Navy chief said.
Iranian military experts and engineers have in recent years made remarkable breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient.
Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, which are entirely meant for defense, and that Iran’s defense capabilities will be never subject to negotiations.
Also speaking at Thursday’s event, IRGC chief Major General Hussein Salami said whenever the enemy acts forcefully against the Islamic Revolution, Iranians appear stronger against it.
“The enemy has come to the scene with all its strength, but the more it acts, the less it gains and the farther it gets from its so-called objectives,” he added.
Some fugitives portray themselves as benefactors and saviors of the nation while they demand the enemies intensify the embargo and isolation targeting Iran so that medicine and food do not reach the Iranian people, Salami said.
“In the Iranians’ mentality, this kind of behavior is disgusting and shameful.”