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Venezuela Deploys Iranian Missile Boats to Fend Off U.S. Navy

Peykaap
An Iranian Peykaap fast attack boat (Tasnim News / CC BY SA 4.0)

Published Sep 7, 2025 4:44 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

In response to a concentration in the southern Caribbean of a substantial US Navy force, the Venezuelan Navy has reportedly deployed some of the Peykaap III Fast Attack Craft that Iran supplied it with several years ago.

One of three Venezuelan Peykaap Fast Attack Craft seen on the dockside at the Agustín Armario Naval Base in Puerto Cabello (https://x.com/i/status/1964133901049221184)

In April 2021, the Iranian Navy (Nedaja) logistics vessel IRINS Makran (K441) left Bandar Abbas, escorted by the Moudge Class frigate IRINS Sarhand (F74). Iranian official sources suggested that the flotilla was heading for Venezuela. Clearly visible on the deck of IRINS Makran as she left port were seven Peykaap fast patrol craft, a North Korean-derived type with a crew of three normally operated by the IRGC Navy where it is known sometimes as the Zolfaghar.

The flotilla rounded the Cape of Good Hope but was then spotted by the Danish Navy with the Peykaap fast patrol craft still on deck, en route to the Russian Navy 325th anniversary in St. Petersburg. It was not clear whether the Makran returned to Bandar Abbas with the Peykaaps still on board. But at some point, the boats were delivered to Venezuela, because the boats were on show during a naval parade in Venezuela in July 2023.

IRINS Makran seen in Bandar Abbas Naval Harbor before its departure, with Peykaap Fast Attack Craft on deck

The Peykaaps in both Iranian and Venezuelan service are fitted with two launching tubes for Nasr anti-ship missiles, an Iranian-manufactured copy of the Chinese C-704 missile which has autonomous terminal guidance combining a TV-homing seeker and millimeter-wave radar. The export version of the Nasr-1 is known as the CM-90. The system has a range of 90 kilometers. Hezbollah used Nasr-1 to attack the Beit Lid military base in northern Israel on October 17, 2024. The Khowsar shorter-range missile from the same Eagle Strike missile family, known in Chinese service as the C-701, was used by Hezbollah to attack INS Hanit (503) off Lebanon in July 2006. Both Khowsar and Nasr-1s can be fired from the same missile boxes. Surprisingly, neither of these two types of missiles have yet been identified in use by the Houthis.

The Nasr-1/CM-90 is unlikely to pose a significant threat to US Navy warships, which will nonetheless need to be at general quarters when in zone. The Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) and its sister ships have overlapping anti-missile systems, such as Sea Sparrow and Phalanx, to deal with both medium and close-range anti-missile systems.

However, the US naval force commander will have other options for neutralizing the threat well before the Peykaaps could get within Nasr-1 range. The Venezuelans have more potent weaponry available in the form of 100-kilometer range Kh-31A (AS-17 Krypton) anti-ship missiles; these can be fired from Venezuela’s remaining Su-30MK2V Flanker fighters, from a batch of 24 delivered by Russia in 2008.