TEHRAN – Iran on Sunday launched a new locally-made submarine capable offiring cruise missiles, state TV said, in the country’s latest show ofmilitary might at a time of heightened tensions with the US.
The launch ceremony, led by President Hassan Rouhani, took place in thesouthern port city of Bandar Abbas.
“Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is fully self-reliant on land, air andsea,” Rouhani said.
“Our defensive power is meant to defend our interests and we have neversought to attack any country,” he added.
Named the Fateh (Farsi for ‘Conqueror’), Fars news agency said the newsubmarine is Iran’s first in the semi-heavy category, filling a gap betweenthe light Ghadir class and the heavy Kilo class submarines that the countrypossesses.
Fars said the near 600-tonne underwater vessel is equipped with torpedoesand naval mines in addition to cruise missiles, and can operate more than200 metres below sea level for up to 35 days.
The US withdrew from a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018and re-imposed biting unilateral sanctions later last year.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on February 7 unveiled a new ballistic missilewith a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), according to the elite unit’sofficial media agency Sepah News.
The surface-to-surface missile — called Dezful — is an upgrade on theolder Zolfaghar model that had a range of 700 kilometres, aerospacecommander Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said.
Rouhani said on Sunday that “pressure by enemies, the (Iran-Iraq) war andsanctions” were incentives for Tehran to be self-reliant in its defenceindustry.
“Maybe we would not have this motivation to industrialise our defencesector,” he said, if Iran could just buy the weaponry it needed.
Iran’s top military brass and cabinet ministers attended the ceremony. -APP/AFP
