“Shahid Sayyad Shirazi (FS313-03),” Khabar Online (Iranian news website affiliated with reformist political faction), 21 January 2024.
“The new ships added to the IRGC Navy are participating in this joint exercise for the first time and are conducting operations.”
In March, China, Iran, and Russia held joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, known as the 2024 Maritime Security Belt.[i] As part of the fourth group exercise since 2019, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Navy (IRGC-N) deployed two new warships, the Shahid Hassan Bagheri [R1] and Shahid (Ali) Sayyad Shirazi. As noted in the excerpted article from the Iran-based Mehr News Agency, both warships are heavily armed, guided-missile catamarans of the Shahid Soleimani class launched in 2022.[ii] Shahid Soleimani class warships are believed to be the most advanced IRGC-N ships to date and have an operational reach of 5,600 miles.[iii]
According to the second excerpted article from IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, both ships are named after martyrs of the Iran-Iraq War. The article also provides tech-specs noting, that the warships are powered by four engines, are 67 meters long, travel 45 knots, and carry an array of defense and offensive missiles, and an armed combat helicopter. According to Tasmin, the warships are reportedly capable of traveling 5,500 nautical miles—a slight discrepancy to the 5,600-mile range reported for Shahid Soleimani class ships by Mehr News Agency. In January 2024, another Shahid Soleimani class warship was revealed: the Shahid Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis The ship is named after the commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Shia militias, whose commander was assassinated along with Soleimani in Iraq. While the Shahid Soleimani class warships are no match for U.S. capabilities, they should not be underestimated. The new additions are part of Iran’s plans to expand its presence in the Persian Gulf and extend its reach from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
OE Insight Summary:
IRN recently added three warships to its navy and deployed two of them during military drills with CHN and RUS in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
Sources:
“حضور ناوهای جدید سپاه در رزمایش مشترک با چین و روسیه دراقیانوس هند (The presence of new IRGC ships in the joint exercise with China and Russia in the Indian Ocean),” Mehr News Agency (semi-official news agency owned by Iranian government’s Islamic Development Organization), 13 March 2024. https://www.mehrnews.com/news/6054031/%D8%AD%D8%B6%D9%88%D8%B1-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B4-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%AA%D8%B1%DA%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A7%DA%86%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%88-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%87-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B3
According to Mehr News, the 2024 (Maritime) Security Belt exercise was conducted with the participation of the countries China, Russia, and Iran with shooting at the designated surface targets.
In this exercise, the Shahid Mahmoudi, Shahid Haj Qasem Soleimani, Shahid Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis warships, Tondar-class Shahid Tavassoli frigate, as well as IRGC maritime helicopters and the heroic soldiers of the Islamic Republic are present.
The new ships added to the IRGC Navy are participating in this joint exercise for the first time and are conducting operations.
“الحاق ۲ ناو رزمی شهید صیاد شیرازی و شهید حسن باقری به نیروی دریایی سپاه (Addition of two warships Shahid (Ali) Sayyad Shirazi and Shahid Hassan Bagheri to the IRGC Navy),” Tasnim News Agency (IRGC-affiliated outlet), 21 January 2024. https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1402/11/30/3041554/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%82-2-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88-%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%B4%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%B5%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%B4%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B2%DB%8C-%D9%88-%D8%B4%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87
According to Tasnim News Agency’s defense correspondent, this morning in Bandar Abbas (a port city), the combat patrol vessels the Shahid (Ali) Sayyad Shirazi and Shahid Hassan Bagheri were joined by the IRGC Naval Combat Organization in the presence of chief of staff of the armed forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri.
These two stealth vessels are of the Shahid (Qasem) Soleimani class, and recently the Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis vessel of this class was unveiled and joined the IRGC-Navy. These ocean-going vessels are catamaran-type with a speed of 45 knots and many offensive and defensive missiles.
These vessels are equipped with a Navab vertical launch missile defense system and a Sayyad cruise missile with a range of 700 kilometers. They are capable of carrying three light missile launchers and an armed combat helicopter. These two IRGC naval vessels are 67 meters long, 20 meters wide, weigh 600 tons, and have four engines. Shahid Bagheri’s vessel was built at the IRGC-N’s specialized vessel center in Bushehr. The Shahid (Ali) Sayyad Shirazi vessel is equipped with Sayyad long-range defense missiles and Navab defense missiles. These vessels are capable of sailing 5,500 nautical miles.
Notes:
[i] According to Iranian Rear Adm. Amrollah Nozari, the exercises cover 6,500 square miles of sea “in an area of strategic importance to the whole world.” See: Brad Lendon, “China, Russia and Iran put on show of force with Mideast naval drills,” CNN, 14 March 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/middleeast/china-russia-iran-navy-drills-intl-hnk/index.html
[ii] The Shahid Soleimani class warships are named in honor of assassinated Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed via a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in 2020. For a review of the U.S. strike on Soleimani, See: Michael Crowley, Falih Hassan and Eric Schmitt, “U.S. Strike in Iraq Kills Qassim Suleimani, Commander of Iranian Forces,” The New York Times, 2 January 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-soleimani-iraq-iran-attack.html
[iii] Eric Wertheim, “Iran’s first VLS missile catamaran,” U.S. Naval Institute, December 2023. https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2023/december/irans-first-vls-missile-catamaran; Farzin Nadimi, “New Iranian Warship Signals Longer Maritime Reach, More Aggressive Strategy,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 16 September 2022. https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/new-iranian-warship-signals-longer-maritime-reach-more-aggressive-strategy
Image Information:
Image: “Shahid Sayyad Shirazi (FS313-03),” Khabar Online (Iranian news website affiliated with reformist political faction), 21 January 2024.
Source: https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/1874777/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%87-%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B3-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%DB%8C-%D8%B4%D8%AF%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%AC%D8%B2%D8%A6%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%DA%A9%D8%B3
Attribution: CCA-SA 4.0 Intl.