Iran Says Developing Intelligence-Gathering Naval Vessel

Iran’s Army has announced that a homegrown intelligence gathering ship has been developed and being tested for deployment, Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

The vessel named Shiraz is the first destroyer class warship capable of housing a helicopter and a revamped deck for Iranian-developed radars.

Fars quoted the commander in charge of the Army’s naval industries as saying that Shiraz has a wide array of equipment for electronic warfare and intelligence gathering, developed by national resources. The ship is in the final stages of testing he said, and will join the Army’s navy.

There is no independent confirmation of the claim.

While Iran’s traditional Army (Artesh) has its own navy and manages most of Iran’s naval development projects, the Revolutionary Guard also has its own navy. Iran has been forced to rely on its homegrown means to maintain a navy as a previous UN arms embargo and sanctions have prohibited the open acquisition of arms.

Satellite imagery and footages that emerged a week ago showed an Iranian naval vessel which was under construction at Bandar Abbas port had capsized. The identity and type of the vessel remained unknown, and Iran never acknowledged the incident.