The IRGC seeks to bolster its presence in Hormuz… Is Iran blocking Energy Supplies?
To expand its presence in the vital waters of international energy supplies and beyond, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is building a massive new support ship near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The Associated Press published satellite imagery showing the Shahid Mahdavi in the shipyard, and right next to one of Iran’s diesel-powered Kilo attack submarines, undergoing extensive repair.
According to the US agency, the construction of Shahid Mahdavi provides the guards with a large, floating base from which to operate small speedboats, which make up largely their fleet designed to counter the US Navy and other allied forces in the region.
As the photo of the Shahid Mahdavi circulated on the Internet, the Fars News Agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that it was a mobile marine city capable of guaranteeing the security of Iranian commercial lines, as well as the rights of Iranian sailors and fishermen on the high seas.
However, its arrival follows a series of setbacks for both the regular Iranian guard and navy, including the loss of its largest warship less than a year ago.
“With negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal also stalled with world powers, other confrontations at sea between Tehran and the West also remain dangerous”, the US agency said.
The Associated Press quoted Farzin Nadimi, a co-fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who studies the Iranian military: “They look beyond the Persian Gulf and in the blue waters of the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the northern Indian Ocean”.
Shahid Mahdavi appears to be an update of an Iranian cargo ship known as Sarvin, based on earlier images of the ship, which also has a similar hull curve, according to the US agency.
