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Iranian Navy Receives Over 100 Missile Boats

By Orkhan Jalilov May 30, 2020

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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' (IRGC) Navy took delivery of 112 missile boats in a ceremony in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on May 28, 2020. / Tasnim News Agency

The naval forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in southern Iran have received 112 missile-launching speed boats this week.

“112 new-generation speed boats of different classes, joined the fleet defending the security of the Persian Gulf in a ceremony held in Bandar Abbas [Hormozgan Province],” Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on May 28.

Top Iranian military officials, including Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami, IRGC Chief Major General Hossein Salami, and IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri attended the ceremony of the delivery of missile boats designed and manufactured by Iran’s Defense Ministry's Marine Industries Organization and the IRGC's Naval Force.

The vessels are small-sized, fast vessels armed with anti-ship missiles that support high hydrodynamic and maneuver capabilities in different conditions. The newly introduced fast attack craft of different types include Zolfaqar, Ashura, Tareq speedboats, as well as Heidar-class and Miyad-class boats.

They are expected to enhance the offensive capabilities of the naval forces ensuring the security of the Persian Gulf waters. It happened in line with the plans to boost the Iranian offensive power in the strategic Persian Gulf waters.

“We will not bow to enemies and will not retreat. The defense is our logic in war but not in the sense of passivity against the enemy," IRGC Commander Major-General Hossein Salami said during the ceremony in Bandar Abbas on Thursday. "Our operations and tactics are offensive and we have shown it in the battlefield."

The United States accuses the Iranian vessels of “harassing” the U.S. Navy vessels, describes the Iranian boats approaching the American vessels in the Persian Gulf and international waters in the region, as "dangerous and provocative".

"I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," President Donald Trump said in a tweet posted on April 22.

On May 28, Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami paid a visit to the industrial shops manufacturing two military vessels, a destroyer and a minesweeper in Bandar Abbas. During the visit, Hatami said the homegrown ‘Dena’ destroyer is a Mowj Class vessel that will be equipped with advanced systems and will soon join the Iranian Navy’s fleet. Mowj is a class of Iran's domestically produced light frigates, which are also known as destroyer escorts.

He stressed that the Defense Ministry will fully support the naval industries to enable them to protect the country’s territorial waters in the international waters, the Sea of Oman, and the coasts of Makran, a coastal region of Baluchistan in southeastern Iran and southwestern Pakistan.

The Iranian defense minister has also warned the Persian Gulf countries not to make the “strategic mistake” of allowing the U.S. entry into the region, and said that “when the Persian Gulf region is safe, all regional countries will benefit from such security, but if the Persian Gulf becomes insecure, it will be insecure for all countries in the region.”