Iranian Navy To Receive Three New Warships, Armed With Missiles Capable Of Hitting Targets Up To 300 Km

Illustration of the Iranian Navy warship fleet. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim News Agency)

JAKARTA - Iran's defense industry has grown rapidly in recent years, although for most of the last few years the country has been under UN sanctions, preventing it from buying weapons and defense technology abroad.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy will receive three new domestically developed warships, Commander Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri announced at a ceremony in Tehran on Nov. 21.

Quoted from Sputnik News on December 1, he clarified the warships will be handed over to the IRGC Navy this year.

Tangsiri said two of the ships were being developed by Iran's Defense Ministry and would be named after two national martyrs, Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in an American drone strike in Iraq, and General Mohammad Nazeri.

The plan is that the two warships will have a length of 65 meters and 55 meters, armed with missile defenses capable of striking targets up to 300 kilometers away.

Meanwhile, a third warship is being developed by an Iranian R&D company, the IRGC Navy commander added. He noted that the ship will also have sea-to-air missiles capable of operating at a range of up to 300 kilometers, have a landing pad to carry helicopters. The new ship will be able to accelerate to 35 knots.

To note, Iran's defense industry has experienced a major boost over the past decade, in part because of the need to make up for the country's inability to purchase weapons and defense abroad as a result of UN sanctions.

Tehran, however, continues to develop industry, despite the bans being lifted by most countries and has achieved remarkable results, filling its armed forces with domestically produced warships, missiles, air defenses, drones, and fighter jets.