In addition to its nuclear and long-range ballistic missiles program, Iran has for years
been working to build up its navy, with the goal of being able to project power in its
surrounding bodies of water.
Now, Israeli defense sources warn, Tehran is looking to lean on its increased ties with
Russia to add new ships to its fleet.
However, experts warn that internal politics between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) and the domestic navy may complicate any effort between Tehran and Moscow to work
together on naval capabilities.
According to multiple Israeli defense sources, officials from Iran have traveled to Russia
to discuss the potential for naval cooperation.
They carried with them two requests, Israeli sources say: first, to buy some existing Russian
warships, and then to ask the Russians to design more bespoke naval capabilities that
fit with Iran’s operational requirements.
(Russia already has some ship designs built for export, including the Grigorovich-class,
classified as a “general purpose” surface combat vessel.)
It is highly unlikely Iran would build these ships themselves, given resource constraints.
Instead, whatever comes from the agreement would be built in Russia.
It is expected that both the new designs and the existing ones would be outfitted with
versions of Iran’s homemade cruise missiles.
“The Iranians hoped that China [would] help them to build a navy but the Chinese were
not in a hurry to share their maritime technologies,” Eliezer Marom, former commander of the Israeli
navy, told Breaking Defense.
“The war in Ukraine opened a new option to acquire the needed combat vessels from
Russia.”
It’s not the first tie between Russia and Iran on the sea, as the Russian navy has been
instrumental in helping Iran ship oil to Syria.
According to a report from the US Naval Institute, in October the Iranian-flagged oil tanker
Samah entered the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal.
“After a few miles, the 900-foot-long ship stopped reporting its position and destination.
Evidence suggests the ship sailed to Syria, escorted by two Russian Navy ships, including
a destroyer,” the report states.Iran’s maritime aspirations became clear some years
ago when its officials for the first time pointed to the plan to establish a naval station
in Syria, to be able to support Hezbollah on a regular basis without having to rely
on air or land convoys through Syria, Iraq, or Turkey.
The plan included the opening of another naval station in Yemen, through which Iran will
be able to pose a threat at the Red Sea’s entrance and potentially impede ship traffic
heading towards the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Eilat.
(As a bonus, Israeli sources believe that such a station would also help Iran with intelligence
gathering.)
Those two naval stations were not officially established, but in recent years the Iranian
navel plan became even more ambitious — to potentially include expanding beyond its territorial
waters.
According to Iranian Navy Commander Rear Adm. Shahram Irani, Iranian naval units are now
present in the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean as well as the Pacific Ocean, and are
safeguarding merchant containers and oil tankers owned or leased by the Islamic Republic during
their missions in international waters.
Iran is also building relations with Venezuela, with Israeli intelligence concluding that
the latter may allow Iranian naval forces to use its ports in the future — giving
Iran a naval base to operate out of in the Americas.
Israeli naval expert Shaul Chorev told Breaking Defense that the plan to create an Iranian
naval presence in the western hemisphere is largely an effort to “poke a finger in the
west’s eye.”
Chorev, a former deputy chief of the Israeli Navy, also served from 2007 to 2015 as the
head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission.
He noted that the Iranian plan to expand the presence of their navy became clear when they
participated in an exercise with the Russian fleet and two of their ships arrived at St.
Petersburg this February.
“The new defense relations with Russia may help” Iran build up its navy, Chorev said.
“The Iranian IRCG are operating small vessels that are used to attack mostly civil ships
in the region.
The current effort is to build a real capable navy.”
While the IRGC needs small fast vessels for commando operations, the Iranian navy needs
big combat vessels, said Marom, the former Israeli navy commander.
He also noted that Iran has a huge fleet of oil tankers and new combat ships for Iran’s
navy would likely be aimed to protect this vast export operation.
“Iran is surrounded by seas and that forces them to have a meaningful navy.
This is also connected to their aspiration to become a major force in the Gulf and Middle
east.
They operate in Lebanon and Syria which are located on the shores of the Mediterranean
and in Yemen located on the shores of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
To be present in these seas the Iranians need a strong navy,” Marom said.