Iran Mounts Naval Show of Force

 

Over the next two weeks, Iran is planning to put on a naval show of force involving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy (Nesda).

Brigadier Ali Mohammad Naeini, the IRGC spokesman, announced that Nesda intends to mount a major exercise in the Straits of Hormuz on January 11, involving 300 combat vessels - most presumably being speedboats.  This will be followed by an exercise January 18-23 within the Gulf, all to be concluded by the IRGC’s “largest ever fleet review” on January 27, probably off Bandar Abbas, involving “approximately 2,000 military and civilian vessels.”

Nesda is planning to unveil two additions to its fleet on January 27, namely the Shahid Bahman Baqeri and the Shahid Rais Ali Delvari. The Shahid Rais Ali Delvari (FS313-04), according to a press release from the Iranian Ministry of Defense, will the fourth vessel in the Shahid Soleimani-class, which are 67m long catamarans with a top speed of 32 knots.  The ships have 23mm and 30mm cannons and short-range air defense missile systems, but their principal weapons are four 300km range Ghader cruise missiles and two 90km Nasir cruise missiles.  All the missiles are vertically launched, improving stealth profile against radar detection by reducing deck clutter. The vessels also have a helicopter desk, which appears as if it could support a landed helicopter only during calm weather. The class is built at the Shahid Mahallati Marine Industrial Institute in Bushehr, a yard which is owned by the IRGC itself.

The IRGC are also intending to publicize the existence of new underground missile and drone complexes, albeit details of exact locations rarely accompany such press releases. The IRGC has at least 25 known underground facilities, from which missiles can be fired from silos or trailer-mounted missiles and drones driven out rapidly to pre-prepared firing positions nearby.

In addition to Nesda’s activities, the IRGC is currently undertaking a series of internal security exercises across all regions of Iran, focused on border areas that have seen separatist activity. On January 10, an unprecedented internal security exercise involving 110,000 mobilized Basij volunteers is scheduled to take place in Tehran. Major IRGC air defense exercises are also underway around threatened nuclear sites.

Brigadier Naeini told the Financial Times on January 7 that "the number of IRGC exercises has almost doubled this year compared with last year, in response to the evolving threat landscape," reflecting the IRGC’s primary role as a defender of the clerical regime from internal threats to its survival.