Iran navy to send flotilla to Atlantic on 5-month mission

AVA- The fleet will depart for the waters early next year on the Iranian calendar, which begins on March 21, Rear-Admiral Touraj Hassani-Moqaddam, the Navy’s deputy commander told IRNA on Friday.
“The mission will take place in line with the order issued by the chain of command,” he noted, adding that the fleet will be going around the globe to reach the Atlantic.
“[The course towards] the Atlantic Ocean is a long one, and the Iranian naval group’s mission in the ocean could last for up to five months,” Hassani-Moqaddam added.
“Iranian helicopter-carrying destroyer Sahand is going to be one of the vessels to be included in the group,” he said.
Iran launched the combat vessel, which has radar-evading stealth properties and can sustain drawn-out voyages without resupply on December 1.
The commander said the destroyer is equipped with enhanced torpedo launchers, anti-aircraft and anti-ship guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile systems, anti-submarine firepower, precision defensive capability, high manoeuvrability, and electronic warfare equipment.
Separately, Fars News Agency cited various Navy commanders and authorities as saying that the Atlantic mission is also to recruit the Khark logistical vessel. The ship, which is the largest one of its kind in Western Asia, has been fitted with enhanced propulsion and navigation capabilities. It previously joined the Navy’s missions in the Pacific and the Gulf of Aden.
Hassani-Moqaddam said a naval group belonging to the force was currently operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
The mission, he said, interacts with its international counterparts to help provide security for shipping routes in the high seas, adding that the previous mission dispatched to the Gulf had managed to rescue a foreign vessel from pirate attack.