Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy
نیروی دریایی سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی
Fleet		c. 126 surface warfare vessels 5 amphibious vessels 3 auxiliary ships 3,000–5,000 speedboats
Engagements	2008 stand-off with U.S. warships 2015 seizure of Maersk Tigris 2016 arrest of U.S. Navy personnel 2019 seizure of Stena Impero
Commanders
Current commander	Commodore Alireza Tangsiri
Insignia
Ensign
Flag

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN;

Name

The forces are known with their official abbreviation in Persian, "NEDSA".^[9] In maritime radio communications, it is addressed as "Sepah Navy".^[10]

History

Iran–Iraq War (1985–1988)

On 17 September 1985, Iran's supreme leader and commander-in-chief Ruhollah Khomeini ordered Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to create three branches including navy.^[11][9] Shortly afterwards, Hossein Alaei was appointed as the commander of the naval forces.^[9] The navy was tasked to operate in the Persian Gulf and by 1987 were able to play an active role against Iraqi Navy in the Iran–Iraq War.^[11]

During the "

The 1988 naval battle between Iran and the US, Operation Praying Mantis, resulted in half of Iran’s operational fleet being destroyed or severely damaged. The US suffered 2 casualties due to an AH-1T Sea Cobra crashing. Iran lost 1 frigate (45 crew members killed), 1 gunboat (11 crew members killed), 3 speedboats, 1 frigate, and 2 platforms.^{[citation needed]}

Engagements with the Royal Navy

On 21 June 2004, eight sailors and Royal Marines were seized by forces of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy while training Iraqi river patrol personnel in the Persian Gulf.^[14] On 23 March 2007, fifteen sailors and Royal Marines from HMS Cornwall were seized by forces of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy in the Persian Gulf.^[15]

Engagements with the United States Navy

On 7 January 2008, US officials claimed five Iranian speedboats 'harassed' United States Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf. IRGC speedboats made threatening moves and in one case even came within 180 meters of US warships. The US Navy also claimed to have received a radio transmission from Iranian boats saying: "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes". After this US ships were said to have taken up their gun positions and were ready to open fire at one of the boats when the Iranians turned away and one of the Iranian speedboats (allegedly) dropped white boxes into the water in front of the U.S. ships, it was not clear what was in the boxes.^[16]

Iranian officials and military commanders later downplayed the incidents as normal and denied having sent the radio transmission. After the US released a video showing Iranian speedboats swarming US ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran released its own video of the incident after suggesting the US video was staged.^[17]

On 12 January 2016, 10 American sailors were apprehended by IRGC officials off the coast of Farsi Island, which doubles as a naval installation for the IRGC. American officials stated that the sailors were on a training mission when one of their boats experienced a mechanical failure. During this time the vessel drifted into Iranian territorial waters spurring IRGC naval units to respond and apprehend the sailors with both vessels. US Secretary of State John Kerry engaged in a phone call with Iranian officials to defuse the situation. Iranian officials said that the sailors were in custody, but would be freed within hours, understanding that the incident was a mistake.^[18]

In 2019, the IRGC Navy allegedly carried out a series of attacks on international vessels in the Gulf of Oman and seized vessels taking them to Iran.

IRGC naval specialty insignias

Navigation

Diving

Marines

Maritime Electronics

Maritime Mechanics

Coastal Missile

IRGC Navy and

Janes recognizes the IRGCN as the resuscitator of fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) in the modern era, as well as the most prominent practitioner of "small boat swarm tactics that combine speed, mass, co-ordinated manoeuvre, low radar signature, and concealment" among naval forces of the world.^[22]

It has also a

In 2022, the IRGCN had unveiled a new uniform ditching its usual green in favor of white.[23]

Organization

Bandar Abbas

Bushehr

Mahshahr

Asaluyeh

Bandar Lengeh

Chabahar

Babolsar

Zibakenar

Faror Island

Borazjan

Basij

The corps has a warfare organization for civilian Iranian citizens fleet since 2019, they will help fight wars and combat contraband and smuggling too.^[25][26]

Equipment

Current ships

According to 'The Military Balance 2020' of the

Speedboat fleet

In addition to the vessels mentioned above, IRGC operates a fleet of armed

speedboats with displacement below 10 tonnes,^[1] the exact number of which is unknown.^[27] Back in 2007, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence estimated IRGC had a fleet of 1,000 speedboats that was growing.^[28] As of 2011, estimates ranged widely from "hundreds" to "several thousand".^[29] The number was put between 3,000 to 5,000 vessels according to most recent reports in 2020.^[30]

Classes of speedboats in the inventory include:

• Boghammar or Tareq class (IISS estimates c.40 operational in 2020)^[1]
• Zulfighar class air-defence boat
• Ashura class^[27]
• Cougar class^[27]
• FB class (RIB-33)^[27]
• Murce class^[27]
• Bahman class catamaran^[31]
• Gashti class^[27]
• Kuch class^[27]
• Bladerunner of Seraj class^[27]
• Heidar class
• Meead class^[32]
• Kajami class
• Gahjae class
• Tarlan class
• MIL 55 class
• MIL 40 class
• Zafar class

Ships

• Frigate^[33]
• IRIS Shahid Roudaki
• IRIS Shahid Mahdavi

Other vessels

• Al-Sabehat, swimmer delivery vehicle^[31]
• Bavar 2, wing-in-ground effect air vehicle^[1]

Current aircraft

Based on the IISS report, as of 2020 Iranian aircraft inventory includes:

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Variant	In service	Notes
Helicopters
Bell 206	United States	multi-role	AB-206	Unknown[1]
Mil Mi-17	Russia	transport	Mi-171 Hip	5[1]

UAV

• Shahed 136^[34]

Coastal anti-ship missiles

• C-802
  (+)
• C-701
  (+)
• Kowsar, based on the Chinese TL-10 (+)
• Nasr-1, based on the Chinese TL-6 (+)
• HY-2 Silkworm
  (+)
• Qader
  , medium-range anti-ship cruise missile
• Persian Gulf (Khalij Fars) , Anti ship ballistic missile (ASBM) based on Fateh-110.

• 
  Firing Nasr-1 Missile from a truck launcher in Velayat-90 Naval Exercise
• 
  Qader

Torpedoes

• Hoot, can be launched from IRGCN speedboats and torpedoboats

Commanders

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Command
Supreme Leader Commanders Joint Staff
Military branches
Ground Forces Aerospace Force Navy Quds Force Basij
Intelligence agencies
Intelligence Organization Intelligence Protection Organization
Personnel
Ranks insignia
Facilities
Imam Hossein University Baqiyatallah University University of Command and Staff Amir Al-Momenin University
v t e

See also: List of commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

No.	Portrait	Commander	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1		Alaei, HosseinHossein Alaei	17 September 1985	23 December 1990	5 years, 67 days	–
2		Shamkhani, AliCommodore Ali Shamkhani (born 1955)	23 December 1990	27 August 1997	6 years, 247 days	[1]
3		Ahmadian, Ali AkbarCommodore Ali Akbar Ahmadian	27 August 1997	19 July 2000	2 years, 327 days	[2]
4		Saffari, MortezaCommodore Morteza Saffari	19 July 2000	3 May 2010	9 years, 288 days	[3]
5		Fadavi, AliCommodore Ali Fadavi (born 1961)	3 May 2010	23 August 2018	8 years, 112 days	[4]
6		Tangsiri, AlirezaCommodore Alireza Tangsiri (born 1962)	23 August 2018	Incumbent	5 years, 249 days	[5]

See also

• List of navies
• List of marines and similar forces

References

1. ^
   S2CID 219624897
   .
2. ^ ^{a b} Haghshenass, Fariborz (September 2008), Iran's Asymmetric Naval Warfare (PDF) (Policy Focus), Washington Institute for Near East Policy, archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2019, retrieved 6 February 2016
3. ISBN 978-0160939686
4. ^ ^{a b} Michael Connell (12 March 2013), Gulf III: Iran's Power in the Sea Lanes, The Iran Primer, United States Institute of Peace, retrieved 5 January 2016
5. ^ Nicole Gaouette (8 April 2019). "Trump designates elite Iranian military force as a terrorist organization". CNN. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
6. ^ "Saudi, Bahrain add Iran's IRGC to terror lists - SPA". euronews. 23 October 2018. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
7. ^ Hossein Aryan (15 November 2011), The Artesh: Iran's Marginalized and Under-Armed Conventional Military, Middle East Institute, retrieved 15 December 2015
8. ^ "Iran navy heightens security in Gulf territorial waters". news.xinhuanet.com. Xinhua. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
9. ^
   ISBN 9783030294182
10. ^ "Iran forces warned off UK warship during tanker seizure – audio", The Times of Israel, 29 July 2019, retrieved 1 August 2020
11. ^
    ISBN 978-1317525646
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13. ISBN 978-0313386107
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14. ^ "Timeline: UK-Iran relations". BBC News. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
15. ^ "UK sailors captured at gunpoint". BBC News. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
16. ^ Starr, Barbara (7 January 2008). "Iranian boats 'harass' U.S. Navy, officials say". edition.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
17. Fars News Pentagon Video on Iran-US Confrontation a Clumsy Fake
    9 January 2008
18. ^ "Pentagon: 2 U.S. Navy Boats Held by Iran Military". NBC News. 12 January 2016.
19. ^ US releases new images from suspected attacks on Gulf tankers aljazeera.com
20. ^ Iranian republican guard seizes foreign oil tanker persian abcnews.go.com
21. ^ Putin’s Gulf security plan depends on Trump al-monitor.com
22. ISSN 2048-3457
    , Indeed, the IRGCN's unconventional use of these craft in the Gulf's 'tanker wars' of the late 1980s can in hindsight be seen as marking the birth of the fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) in the modern era. However, there is no doubt that the asymmetric surface threat has taken on increased significance over the past decade, with the IRGCN still recognised as the foremost –though by no means only– practitioner of small boat 'swarm' tactics that combine speed, mass, co-ordinated manoeuvre, low radar signature, and concealment. Moreover, the IRGCN has continued to invest significantly in FIAC platforms and weapons and to exercise this capability regularly in wargames in the Gulf.
23. ^ Elliott Abrams and Behnam Ben Taleblu (7 April 2022), Reducing Pressure on Iran's Revolutionary Guards Raises Risks for America, The National Interest, retrieved 9 April 2022
24. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Nadimi, Farzin (April 2020), "Iran's Evolving Approach to Asymmetric Naval Warfare: Strategy and Capabilities in the Persian Gulf" (PDF), The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Policy Focus), no. 164, Table 3. IRGCN Operational Districts, p. 30, archived from the original (PDF) on 4 May 2020, retrieved 15 July 2020
25. ^ "امکان صید برای ۷۰۰ نفر از صیادان در قالب بسیج دریایی فراهم شد - خبرگزاری مهر | اخبار ایران و جهان | Mehr News Agency".
26. ^ https://farsi.alarabiya.net/iran/2019/09/26/%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%AC-%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF ^{[bare URL]}
27. ^
    ISBN 978-0-16-095157-2
    , DIA-Q-00055-A
28. ^ Capaccio, Anthony (25 April 2020), "U.S. Has Gunships Ready to Deliver on Trump's Warning to Iran", Bloomberg, retrieved 15 June 2020
29. JSTOR resrep07900
30. ^ "Iran retaliates for the killing of Qassem Suleimani", Economist, 8 January 2020, retrieved 15 June 2020, Strategists have speculated that Iran could use its fleet of 3,000 to 5,000 speedboats to mount swarming attacks on larger warships in the confined waters of the Persian Gulf, though this concept remains untested.
31. ^
    S2CID 110041921
32. ^ "112 Missile Boats Delivered to IRGC Navy - Defense news". Tasnim News Agency.
33. ^ https://www.farsnews.ir/news/14020910000217/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B4%DA%A9%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D9%BE%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84 ^{[bare URL]}
34. ^ "پهپادهای ایرانی چگونه مسیر انتقال نفت به اروپا را تهدید می‌کنند؟". 21 November 2023.

External links

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