A senior official in the Iranian military has issued a statement that his country is able to build large naval ships, as well as aircraft carriers, and in order to do all that is needed is the funding. Aircraft carriers are the largest and most expensive type of naval ships and are primarily intended to project military power internationally.
Communications Bureau Chief of the Chief Commander of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Abbas Sedehi issued a statement that Iran has the know-how to construct vessels over twice the size of the home-made destroyers it already has, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday.
“We are capable of building 200m-long warships, warships double the size of Jamaran or aircraft carriers if the government does the budgeting,” he said referring to the 95 meter-long, 1,500-ton destroyer the country launched in February 2010, the first of seven that are planned. A second ship, Damavand, is also in service.
Last month Deputy Commander of the Iranian Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Iran will launch the next destroyer, Sahand, in 2018.
In 2016, Deputy Navy Commander for Coordination Admiral Peiman Jafari Tehrani declared the country planned to build an aircraft carrier.
Iranian Navy Commander Habibollah Sayyari first declared in 2014 that Iran had the ability to construct aircraft carriers as well as high-tech submarines. Only seven navies currently operate aircraft carriers that can fly fixed-wing fighter jets — U.S., China, France, India, Russia, Italy and Spain.