TEHRAN - The Iranian navy destroyers have been armed with cruise missiles called “Abu Mahdi”, Commander of Iran's Army Navy Force Rear Admiral Shahram Irani announced on Saturday.

The missiles are named after Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, a senior commander with Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), who was assassinated together with General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. 

Abu Mahdi cruise missile is one of Iran’s Aerospace Industries products with a range of over one thousand kilometers which can destroy any target, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA. 

Rapid reaction, management of target selection, and evading the enemy's defenses are among the characteristics of the Abu Mahdi cruise missile.

The addition comes after the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) announced that it was planning to display new achievements in the coming days.

The new capabilities will be in the field of both manned and unmanned aircraft, according to the IRIAF’s Commander Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi.

"The air force is growing (in power) and as I have stated before we must never stop for a moment because if we do, we will fall behind," Vahedi said in an interview with Mehr News agency.

The IRIAF is slated to take delivery of the first batch of the state-of-the-art Sukhoi Su-35 heavy air superiority fighter jets in the coming weeks, according to IRNA.