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Iranian Navy Commissions Logistics Ship Converted From Tanker

Iran converted tanker
IRINS Kurdestan (Mehdi H.)

Published May 2, 2025 11:54 AM by The Maritime Executive

 

Iran is reported ready to commission its next logistics ship converted from a merchant ship for operations by its Navy. The ship is based on a 33-year-old crude oil tanker that had been operating under the Iranian flag since 2019. 

Open Source intelligence analyst Mehdi H, who reports accurately on Iranian naval matters, posted a picture of a newly converted tanker that appears to have been commissioned by the regular Iranian Navy (Nedaja). He reports the vessel will soon start sea trials. It features a helipad which Mehdi H says is likely for helicopter and UAV ops.

The ship is now named IRINS Kurdestan (K442), and from its pennant number looks likely to fulfill the same role as IRINS Makran (K441). Both IRINS Makran and Kurdestan were converted from crude oil tankers at the ISOCO shipyard west of Bandar Abbas. IRINS Makran was converted from the 55,909 GT Aframax tanker Beta (IMO 9486910), launched in Japan in 2009. Markan made its first appearance in January 2023 with Iran reporting it was intended as a logistics ship, fitted with a large helicopter pad with space for up to seven helis, an array of signals intelligence and data processing equipment, and ample fuel tank capacity to resupply other Iranian vessels at sea. 

IRINS Kurdestan has been converted from the smaller 29,506 GT Tabukan (IMO 8917467), launched in 1997 also in Japan. It is 183 meters (600 feet) in length and 45,425 dwt. AIS signals for the vessel last showed it in Lagos, Nigeria more than a year ago.

 

 

Alongside the Moudge Class frigate IRINS Dena (F75), IRINS Makran made up the 86th Flotilla which between September 2022 and May 2023 circumnavigated the globe, traveling via Jakarta, Pitcairn, the western coast of South America, and Rio de Janeiro. The flotilla was denied passage through the Panama Canal, necessitating a first rounding of the Cape of Good Horn for the Nedaja. 

To a mariner’s eye, however, IRINS Makran seems far too big to be an effective at-sea replenishment ship, making the circumnavigation more of a publicity event than an operational endeavor. IRINS Kurdestan at half the size will make a much better platform for carrying out tactical replenishment at sea and is similar in size at 18,880GT to IRINS Kharg (K431) which performed this role until it sank in mysterious circumstances off Jask in June 2021. IRINS Makran could well now revert to its intended role as an offshore support base, and with IRINS Kurdestan will also likely be used for conducting training cruises with naval cadets. 

IRINS Kurdestan is equipped with a helicopter deck, built on a platform over the foredeck as with IRINS Makran. In all likelihood, the ship has retained its functionality as an oil tanker but will be reinforced with additional radar and anti-aircraft missile systems. As of yesterday, IRINS Kurdestan was anchored in the Bandar Abbas roads, from where its crew will have had a fine view of the fires engulfing the Bandar Abbas commercial port.

In addition to the converted tankers, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 2023 commissioned a lightly-converted Ro-Ro containership, which it deployed as an expeditionary base ship renamed Shahid Mahdavi. Along with a sister ship Shahid Bagheri they are both reported to be operating as drone carriers.