As it tries expand its naval presence in vital waters for international energy supplies, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has begun building a huge new support ship close to the Strait of Hormuz. Satellite photos taken by The Associated Press reveal that.
The Guard has a floating base, the Shahid Mahdavi, from which it can run small fast boats that make up the majority of its fleet. It is designed to counter the U.S. Navy in the region.
However, its arrival comes after a series setbacks for the Guard as well as Iran’s regular Navy, including the loss, less than a decade ago, of its largest warship. Further confrontations at sea between Tehran, the West and Iran remain a possibility as negotiations over Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers continue to fail.
Farzin Nadimi, an associate fellow of the Washington Institute for Near-East Policy and a researcher on the Iranian military, said that “they are looking beyond Persian Gulf” and “into the blue waters in the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and northern Indian Ocean.”
Based on previous photos of the vessel, which has a similar curve in its hull, the Shahid Mahdavi seems to be a retrofit from an Iranian cargo ship called the Sarvin.
The Sarvin arrived at Bandar Abbas in July and then turned off its trackers. The vessel was seen at Shahid Darvishi Marine Industries in drydock by satellite photos taken by Planet Labs PBC, which were analyzed and reported by the AP on Jan. 29. This is a company that is associated with Iran’s Defense Ministry.
First, a photo of Shahid Mahdavi was shared on social media. According to H.I., the ship may have had anti-aircraft guns on its bow or stern. H.I. Sutton, a military ship expert, first identified the ship near Bandar Abbas. The flag of the Revolutionary Guard shows a fist holding an assault rifle and a Quran underneath. A globe is behind it.
The high-resolution Planet image of Saturday’s drydock was taken by the AP and showed Shahid Mahdavi, a gun-metal gray Shahid Mahdavi, still at the shipyard. A major overhaul is taking place next to one of Iran’s Kilo class, diesel-powered attack subs. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Iran may have one Kilo-class sub operational and another nonfunctional.
The semi-official Fars news agency published a story about Shahid Mahdavi’s ship as soon as the image circulated online. Fars, who is believed to be close the Guard, described it as a “mobile navy city” capable of “ensuring security for Iran’s trade lines as well as the rights and privileges of Iranian sailors, fishermen, and mariners in the high seas.”
Fars stated that Iran can continue to assert its control over the Persian Gulf and (Gulf of Oman) in the face transregional threats with this range of new defense- and combat innovations for heavy vessels.
These floating bases were used in the past by the U.S. Navy, especially during the 1980s “Tanker War”, after the invasion of Iran. The Navy began to escort ships out of Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, as Iranian mines were detonated against oil shippers during that war. It is home to a fifth percent of all oil traded.
U.S. Special Forces operated from barges used as forward operating bases during the conflict. The Navy continues to support this idea — the Mideast-based 5th Fleet is home to the USS Lewis B. Puller. This massive ship was built from an oil tanker and can host troops or attack helicopters.
According to Michael Connell, a specialist on Iran at the Center for Naval Analyses in Virginia, “The Shahid Mahdavi appears to be set up to be an afloat forward-staging base,” he said. The Puller was seen as an expeditionary platform and for power projection and warfare by the Iranian military for many years.
The Guard had been patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, and Iran’s regular navy the oceans and seas beyond. The Guard’s ability to expand its presence in the waters previously patrolled by the navy is likely due to the Shahid Mahdavi.
