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On January 12th, Iran said that two indigenous warships had joined its Navy, and they would be revealed during a military drill on the very next day.
«ناوبندر مکران» به نیروی دریایی ارتش ملحق می‌شود#ناوبندر_مکران، بزرگترین شناور نظامی کشور است که پشتیبانی از ناوگروه‌های نیروی دریایی ارتش در آب‌های دوردست به ویژه منطقه شمال اقیانوس هند، تنگه باب المندب و دریای سرخ را برعهده خواهد داشتhttps://t.co/Mab1v4diMt pic.twitter.com/0fmZEt5KTz
— خبرگزاری تسنیم 🇮🇷 (@Tasnimnews_Fa) January 12, 2021
The helicopter carrier dubbed ‘Makran’ will be unveiled during a military drill slated to be held on January 13th.
Another warship that’s supposed to be revealed is the “Zereh” (meaning ‘Armor’ in Farsi) missile launcher warship is one of Iran’s powerful vessels with a high speed as well as maneuverability.
The two advanced domestically-made warships have entered service with the Iranian Navy’s southern fleet in the Gulf of Oman, near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, the country’s Mehr news agency reports.
One vessel is the missile-launching high-speed corvette Zereh, equipped with sophisticated weaponry “to enhance the Navy’s combat capabilities” in the Islamic Republic’s southern waters.
The other is the 231-meter-long helicopter carrier Makran, which is capable of carrying up to seven copters and a number of unmanned aerial vehicles on board.
Video:#Iran Navy fleet in the Sea of Oman took delivery of a new homegrown helicopter carrier “Makran” as well as a missile-launching warship “Zereh” (Armor).
The homegrown missile-launching corvette would enhance the Navy’s combat capabilities in the country southern waters. pic.twitter.com/9HLD3iL7dN
— Iran (@Iran) January 12, 2021
This is the latest in a series of deployments of Iranian-made military hardware, including warships, drones, and missiles against the backdrop of increasing tensions between Tehran and Washington.
In a separate development, just days earlier, satellite images released by the private US company Planet Labs captured what looks like a “cluster” of activity by IRGC ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The remarks followed Tehran revealing the existence of a new top-secret underground missile base belonging to the IRGC Navy, which IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami said was “one of several bases housing the Guards’ Navy’s strategic missiles”.
Trump is entering his last 7 days in office, and all eyes are on him and whether he would launch a strike against Iran.
The deployment of the two warships comes after Iranian naval chief, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, on Monday declared that the Islamic Republic “has full control” of the Persian Gulf and that it “dominates the entire waters”.
Tangsiri insisted that the US “has no option but to withdraw from the Gulf region”, which he said is “home” to Iran and “Muslim countries on the southern rim” of the area.
In December, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei warned the US against “extraterritorial adventurism” that he argued is aimed at militarising the Gulf, in a statement that was preceded by the US Navy saying the Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine USS Georgia and accompanying cruisers had crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
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