Iran's navy receives two new warships

TEHRAN: Iran's navy took delivery on Monday of two new warships in a ceremony broadcast by state television, several days after announcing it dispatched a squadron into the Atlantic Ocean.

"The defence ministry has achieved a major task today in supplying two ships to the Islamic Republic of Iran -- the destroyer Dena and a minesweeper," Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech.

The delivery of the two ships came after Iran announced on Thursday that it had "for the first time" sent a small squadron of ships into the Atlantic Ocean with the goal of "reinforcing its maritime capabilities".

According to a statement by the army chief of staff, the Dena "is an entirely Iranian destroyer" equipped with a "helicopter landing zone" and a "range of defence and attack systems".

It has the capacity to "cover long distances" and is equipped to "destroy all aerial threats", along with underwater threats.

The minesweeper, named "Shahin", is over 33 metres in length and is capable of "detecting and neutralising diverse types of naval mines", the statement said.

The Iranian navy on June 2 lost one of its biggest ships, the Kharg, which sank in the Gulf of Oman, after it was struck by a fire that raged for hours.

The crew was evacuated and the cause remains either unknown or unpublicised.

Iranian naval forces described the Kharg as a "support (and) training vessel", but military specialists GlobalSecurity.org categorised it as a helicopter carrier and fuel replenishment vessel.