Iran has launched a domestically built destroyer in the Caspian Sea.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the guided-missile destroyer “Jamaran-2” in the port city of Anzali, about 250 kilometers northwest of Tehran.
He said the deployment aimed to bolster peace and friendship in the region but also that “the destroyer is there to meet those who want to jeopardize the security of surrounding nations.” He did not elaborate.
State TV called the vessel the nation’s first heavy military presence in the oil-rich sea.
The 1,400-ton destroyer, which has a helicopter landing pad, is 94 meters long and can cruise at 30 knots.
It is equipped with surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles as well as antiaircraft batteries and sophisticated radar and communications terminals.
