Illustrative image. (Mehr News Agency)
Iran’s sole facility for the development of submarines was bombed by the Israeli Air Force on March 24, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced.
The site was targeted as part of a wave of strikes against Iranian weapons manufacturing facilities in the province of Isfahan in the center of the Islamic Republic.
According to the IDF, the center for underwater military research and development in Isfahan is the “only site in Iran responsible for the planning and development of submarines and auxiliary systems for the Iranian navy.”
“The regime produced various models of unmanned vessels at the site,” the military said in a statement.
The strike, which was carried out following intelligence provided by the Naval Intelligence Division, “significantly limits the regime’s ability to manufacture new and advanced submarines for the Iranian Navy, as well as upgrade its existing fleet,” it added.
Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
The IDF announcement highlighted the threat posed by Iran’s underwater offensive capabilities, which expanded in a notable manner in recent years.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy possessed three Russian-made Project 877EKM Kilo-class diesel-electric attack submarines armed with 533 mm torpedoes and cruise missiles — Russian-made Club-S anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles — when the American-Israeli war started.
Two of these highly-capable submarines — each with a displacement of around 2,325 tons — were not operational, however, and the most operational one was confirmed sunk in a U.S. attack on March 13.
Supplementing the Kilos, Iran built a fleet of some 16 Ghadir-class midget diesel-electric attack submarines — with a displacement of just 125 tons —, also armed with 533 mm torpedoes and cruise missiles — Iranian-made Nasr-1, and Jask-2 anti-ship cruise missiles.
These submarines, which are based on North Korea’s Yono-class and designed to operate in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf, have not yet seen action. At least 11 of them were reportedly hit by U.S. and Israeli strikes.
In recent years, Iran began attempting to expand its submarine fleet with larger locally-made submarines, launching a single Fateh-class diesel-electric attack submarine with a displacement of around 527 tons in 2019.
The Fateh followed on from the single Nahang-class midget submarine — which had a displacement of 115-400 tons and was also armed with 533 mm torpedos — in the lineage of Iranian designed submarines. It has been reported that the Fateh, also armed with 533 mm torpedoes, was sunk shortly after the start of the American-Israeli war.
Iran’s efforts to expand underwater offensive capabilities were not, however, limited to manned submarines. The Islamic Republic developed a loitering torpedo, estimated to have a diameter of 533 mm, in addition to the Nazir-5, a heavy one-way attack underwater vehicle with a reported range of 500 kilometers.
Click to see full-size image.
Click to see full-size image.
Very little is known about these systems, which have not been used yet, but the latest Israeli strike on Isfahan indicates that they are a credible threat.
Iran is reported to have lost very much of its submarine fleet, but these unnamed underwater systems could make up for this loss, and the Islamic Republic may be even hiding more.
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just one midget loitering on the bottom of the gulf is enough to close it down. or a couple of dozen mines and a few anti ship missiles on the cliffs. trumpo and the jooz can’t do jack shit to open it again short of putting a million ground troops in to try to occupy the whole region. he is up to his eyeballs in a quagmire his joo masters have made for him and he is sinking fast heheheheheh
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the best way for iran to respond is to take out a few desalination plant in the persian gulf to show who is in charge of the strait of hormuz and the world economy, and send a clear message that any negotiations will be conducted on iran terms. dehydrate, depopulate and defund the wakhabi absolute monarchies in the arabitch peninsula.
that’s if one buys into judenkunt lies. i for one do not.
maybe another trick under their burka
greasy pete hesgeth: “we negotiate with bombs.”
iran: “we negotiate with missiles.”
hormuz is now a joo and amerikunt free zone. it is open to other countries for a 2 million dollar toil, payment in chinese yuan, no dollars accepted. red sea ditto sson.