Iran to Display First Home-Made Semi-Heavy Submarine in Months

Iranian defense officials announced on Saturday that the country would display its first 500-ton submarine in the next few months.

Deputy Defense Minister for Industrial and Research Affairs Mohammad Eslami said the designing and construction of Iran's new indigenous submarine is in its final phases and the new submarine will be launched by August 22, marking the National Day of the Defense Industry. "All related works of this new submarine from designing to production of basic materials and equipments have been accomplished by local experts and proportionate to our conditions and needs," Eslami stated. He added that the subsurface vessel with a weight of 500 tons will be Iran's first semi-heavy submarine and is a final ring in the china of the country's defense needs, given the other submarines, including Qadir-class light submarines and Tareq-class heavy submarines, that Iran already has. In September 2012, the Iranian Navy officially launched a heavy submarine after the subsurface vessel was overhauled by the country's experts. Tareq 901 submarine was launched in Iran's Southern port city of Bandar Abbas at the order of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Commander in Chief Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. In May 2012, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari lauded Iranian experts' success in repairing heavy submarines, saying their outstanding capabilities and mastery of the hi-tech used in naval vessels display the failure of enemy sanctions and pressures. He said the submarine, called Tareq, is now fully ready to be dispatched to the high seas. He pointed to the Supreme Leader's recent alarming remarks that enemies are trying to display Iranians as an incapable nation, and said, "Today we show that 'We Can', and that our ability is way beyond the enemy's imaginations." In 2011, the Iranian Navy's Tareq-class submarine, 'Younus', managed to set a new record in sailing the international waters and high seas for 68 days. Iran's Younus submarine, sailing alongside warships of the 14th fleet of the Iranian Navy, returned home in early June 2011 following an over two-month-long mission in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The deployment of the Iranian submarine in the Red Sea was the first such operation by the country's Navy in far-off waters.