Iran airs animation showing its submarine sinking a US aircraft carrier

Iranian state media has released an animated video showing one of the country’s Ghadir-class submarines sinking an American aircraft carrier.

The IRINN news channel aired the clip on February 1, according to a transcription provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

The video opens with the aircraft carrier cruising on an open sea escorted by four smaller ships and carrying two planes on its deck. A green periscope bearing an Iranian flag then appears, sinister music begins playing, and one by one, the American ships disappear beneath the surface.

The clip ends with the submarine towing the American ships underwater past a logo reading “40 years,” a reference to the 40th anniversary of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, and a voiceover saying, “Our Iran has the technology to manufacture very advanced Ghadir-class submarines.”

Iran’s newly launched Ghadir submarines move in the southern port of Bandar Abbas in Persian Gulf, Iran, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. Ghadir class submarines can fire missiles and torpedoes at the same time, and can operate in the Persian Gulf’s shallow waters. (AP Photo/Fars News Agency, Ebrahim Norouzi)

Last week, Iran started celebrating the 40th anniversary of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed shah, overturned 2,500 years of monarchical rule and brought hard-line Shiite clerics to power.

The Ghadir class submarines are mini, or midget, submarines that can operate in the shallow waters of the gulf.

The subs have sonar-evading technology and can launch missiles from under water, as well as fire torpedoes and drop marine mines, according to an Iranian state TV report released last year.

Iran began manufacturing Ghadir subs in 2005. The first was unveiled in 2007 and by 2012, five such submarines were incorporated into Iran’s navy.

Iran does not disclose the total number of submarines in its fleet.

In December, the US carrier USS John C. Stennis entered the Persian Gulf, ending a long absence of American carriers in the volatile region.

In past years, Iranian naval forces have harassed US ships in the area, and Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow entrance to the Persian Gulf that is crucial to the international oil trade.