Iranian Navy Flotilla Wraps up Atlantic Deployment

Iranian Navy Flotilla Wraps up Four-Month Atlantic Deployment, Pledges More International Operations

USNI News -By Sam LaGrone -Sept 10th, 2021

The two-ship Iranian Navy group that stalked the West Coast of Africa and the Baltic Sea this summer has returned home, as leaders in Tehran pledge more international naval operations.

Iran’s largest warship, IRINS Makran, and frigate IRINS Sahand returned this week after leaving the Middle East in May for a highly publicized trip that culminated in the ships participating in a fleet review in the Baltic Sea, according to state-controlled Tasnim News Service.

Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said, “the Iranian Navy will continue to maintain its ‘determining presence in the oceans’ and will strengthen its international interactions,” according to Tasnim.
“Describing Iran as the only country that ensures its maritime security single-handedly, the admiral said the Iranian flotilla completed the mission without receiving help from any country. The Iranian warships did not need to make any port call to fulfill even the technical needs, he added.”

While labeled as a warship, Makran is a converted oil-tanker that is loaded with fuel capable of keeping the flotilla operational without port calls and would allow more operations in the future, Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told USNI News on Friday.

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https://news.usni.org/2021/09/10/iranian-navy-flotilla-wraps-up-four-month-atlantic-deployment-pledges-more-international-operations