TEHRAN – Iran will create three naval bases and two naval zones on the costs of Makran, along the coasts of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, what its Navy chief characterized as a sea comeback.

“We are building two naval zones and three naval bases on Makran coasts, and this is in line with our policy of making a return to the sea,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told a press conference in Tehran on Monday.  

Over the past years the Iranian Navy has increasingly played a strategic role in the country’s national security fabric due to Tehran's dependence on the Persian Gulf for trade and security. 

Now, its naval forces operate in the Gulf of Oman, the Caspian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The decision to enter international waters comes after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei hailed in 2007 the Iranian navy as a “strategic force” which can take on regional and trans-regional missions.

Now, Iranian frigates patrol in an area of 2,100,000 m2, according to Sayyari, with more than 44 flotilla of warships so far dispatched to high waters.

The missions have contributed particularly to a safe passage of upwards of 3,844 trade ships and tankers threatened by pirates, he added. 

The Iranian navy has reached the operational capability through upgrading its existing fleet as well as introducing homegrown vessels and equipment. 

“We need no foreign help to provide us with our equipment, and are a power in the fields of torpedoes and missiles now,” the navy chief said.  

Sayyari also announced the Iranian navy will be equipped with homegrown surface-to-surface missiles, sea-based drones, and Low Probability of Intercept radars. 

Most probably, some of the items will be unveiled on November 27 earmarked in the Iranian calendar as the national Navy Day. 

AK/PA