Islamic Republic of Iran Navy

From Themarshallwiki

The Iranian Navy has traditionally been the smallest branch of Iran's armed forces and is designed solely for securing its own ports and coast, with little in the way of striking power. Before 1971, the Iranian Navy mostly operated equipment provided by the United States and the United Kingdom. Over the following eight years, the fleet added more modern American and British-made destroyers, frigates and many smaller vessels, including powerboats and hovercraft.

In the 1970s, Iran planned to extend its naval reach into the Indian Ocean; but this goal was curtailed by the Islamic Revolution (1979), the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), and limited funding ever since. This has left the navy with a limited ability to project power from the Persian Gulf into the Oman Sea through submarines and larger surface ships. The last Shah of Iran ordered four modern destroyers from the United States, an order that was cancelled after the Shah fell. The ships were instead commissioned in the U.S. Navy as the Kidd class.

After the Islamic Revolution, the United States levied economic, trade and military sanctions on Iran, particularly squeezing the Navy, which had several ships laid up.

In the 1990s, the Navy added patrol boats, submarines, and surface-launched anti-ship missiles, and replaced Western ships with ones bought from China, North Korea, and Russia. During that time, it also engaged in naval exercises with Pakistan and India.