TEHRAN - The commander of the Iranian Navy has announced that the first marine diesel engine, which is designed and built entirely by Iranian experts, will be unveiled soon.

Admiral Shahram Irani broke the story in a TV program on Saturday night. His remarks came as Iran was celebrating Navy Day, which fell on November 28.

"The first marine diesel engine designed entirely by the youth of this country will be unveiled soon. This engine, the parts of which are all-Iranian, will be unveiled in the coming days and will be installed on the first Iranian missile-launching warship," Irani stated.

The top commander noted that this engine has “very special features” and was built in accordance with the continuation of naval missions and made Iran self-sufficient in the production of diesel engines.

"There are only five countries in the world that can build marine diesel engines, and fortunately Iran is one of these countries with the production of these engines," Irani stated, according to the Mehr news agency.

The Navy chief also referred to Operation Morvarid (Pearl) during the Holy Defense, saying, "Operation Morvarid was the result of a series of operations, and in fact it was the result of our forces in the Navy that changed the course of the war."

The admiral was referring to the early days of Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran in the 1980s in which the Iranian Navy destroyed the Iraqi warships in the Persian Gulf.

Irani said the operation had special features the first feature of which was cutting off the economic artery of the enemy. Thereby, he added, the Saddam regime’s ability to export oil through the Persian was cut off.

"The destruction of the naval power of the Iraqi Baathist army was another of our achievements in Operation Morvarid, which took place in the early days of the war, and shows the importance of this operation. On the other hand, with the destruction of the Baathist army's naval capability, Iran's maritime trade transportation lines for oil exports and the export of goods and the import of basic goods became safe, and the Iraqi army could no longer threaten these sea lines," Admiral Irani stressed. 

In another part of his remarks, he referred to the bravery of the personnel and crew of the Peykan (Arrow) destroyer, saying, "At that time, the destruction of the Baathist regime's naval force was necessary. and they (personnel and crew) sacrificed their lives to defend the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The Navy chief added, "Although the Sacred Defense is over, but war and threats in the military field have always existed and the enemies have always tried to threaten the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran with malicious intent."

It was at this time that the Navy undertook the mission of escorting merchant ships, including oil tankers, and was able to carry out the mission well, he said, adding this mission is continuing with the spread of piracy and now Iran's trade borders have expanded to more than 2,000 kilometers.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the admiral referred to the manufacturing of equipment and ships in the Navy, saying, “We started with the reconstruction of the vessel and then entered the field of construction of ships; of course, the process of producing destroyers was launched with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and on this basis, and with initiative and creativity, we have reached a point where we can produce the required ships."