Iran to Deploy Warships with 8 Homegrown Cruise Missiles

Iranian warships will soon be deployed with eight indigenous cruise missiles for the first time, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani has confirmed.

Irani said the country’s destroyers will be armed with Abu Mahdi naval cruise missile. This missile has been named after the former deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units, who was assassinated along with top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike ordered by former president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport in 2020.

Irani was quoted as saying by state-controlled media that efforts are underway to install the missile on Iranian military watercraft.

Abu Mahdi naval cruise missile can undertake its tasks once employed in electronic warfare systems and has undergone several tests, he said.

“The combat capability, destructive power and operational range of Abu Mahdi cruise missile are significant, and we have set higher ranges on our agenda,” the Iranian Navy commander said.

Irani added that country’s destroyers will be deployed to high sea for the first time with 8 cruise missiles mounted on them.

He also said that Nawab, a domestically-developed medium-range surface-to-air missile system, has already been installed on the Sahand destroyer.

Homegrown Damavand destroyer is undergoing final tests and will hopefully join the Navy’s fleet on November 28.