Photos of vessel named after naval commander Abdollah Roudaki show it also carrying truck-launched surface-to-surface and anti-aircraft missiles, and armed speedboats
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards warship named after slain Guard naval commander Abdollah Roudaki, sails into Iran's southern territorial waters in a photo released by the Guards, November 19, 2020. (Sepahnews via AP)
TEHRAN — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a heavy warship Thursday capable of carrying helicopters, drones and missile launchers amid ongoing tensions with the US.
Photographs of the ship, named after slain Guard naval commander Abdollah Roudaki, showed it carrying truck-launched surface-to-surface missiles and anti-aircraft missiles. It also carried four small fast boats, the kind the Guard routinely uses in the Persian Gulf. Sailors manned deck-mounted machine guns.
The Guard said the ship has a length of 150 meters (492 feet). By comparison, a US Nimitz-class aircraft carrier has a length of 332 meters (1,092 feet).
The Guard’s ship does not have a runway, but includes a landing pad for a helicopter.
Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander Alireza Tangsiri. (Screen capture/YouTube)
The commander of the Guard’s navy, Adm. Ali Reza Tangsiri, suggested his forces wanted to move beyond the waters of the Gulf into deep-water patrolling.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Typically, the Guard covers the waters of the Persian Gulf, while Iran’s navy patrols the Gulf of Oman and beyond.
“Presence and assignments in the Indian Ocean is our right,” Tangsiri said.
The ship appears to be an answer to US Navy patrols in the region by its Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. US aircraft carriers routinely travel through Mideast waters. Iran sees those missions, as well as what it terms Israel’s expanding presence in the region, as a threat.
Advertisement
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
