Tehran: Iran has dispatched a submarine and
a warship to the Red Sea on a patrol mission, navy commander
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in a report by state media
Tuesday.
"This flotilla which is comprised of a submarine and a
warship will patrol the high seas and display the capabilities
of the Islamic republic of Iran," Sayyari was quoted as saying
by the state television website.
In July, Iran announced intentions to boost its military
presence in international waters, with plans to deploy
warships in the Atlantic.
Sayyari said the flotilla, in its 15th mission of its
kind to be dispatched to the Red Sea, would also focus on
"fighting piracy".
In recent years, local media have reported that Iranian
warships accompanied Iranian ships and those of other nations
as they made their way across the pirate-infested Gulf of
Aden.
In June, Iranian "Kilo" class submarines escorted
warships to the Red Sea "to collect data," in their first
mission in distant waters.
Iran`s maritime forces are composed mainly of small units
equipped with missiles and operating under the control of the
elite Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf.
The ocean-going fleet is also small and under the command
of the navy which comprises a half-dozen frigates and
destroyers from 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes, and three 3,000-tonne
submarines bought from Russia in the 1990s.
In February, Iran moved two warships into the
Mediterranean, crossing the Red Sea and the Suez Canal,
triggering anger in Israel and prompting the Jewish state to
put its navy on alert.
PTI
