The Iranian army has unveiled an advanced reconnaissance ship, state media said on Wednesday, as military forces conducted drills nationwide focused on safeguarding the country’s nuclear facilities.
“The country’s first signals intelligence ship, named Zagros, is added to the Navy’s combat operations,” state TV reported.
The Iranian-made vessel is equipped with “electronic sensors”, interceptors, and other cyber and intelligence capabilities, the report said.
Zagros’s launch comes days into major military exercises conducted by the army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which are set to continue until mid-March and are focused on protecting key nuclear sites including Natanz, Fordow and Khondab.
Navy chief Admiral Shahram Irani, quoted by state media, said that the new spy ship “will be the watchful eye of the Iranian Navy in the depths of the seas and oceans”.
The war games are set to coincide with the inauguration on Monday of US President-elect Donald Trump, which along with increased enrichment activity has put Iran’s nuclear programme under close watch.
During Trump’s first term, the United States withdrew from a landmark 2015 deal meant to curb Tehran’s nuclear activities, reimposing biting sanctions.
Trump also oversaw the killing of a top Revolutionary Guards general, Qasem Soleimani, in a drone strike on Iraq.
Earlier this month, US news website Axios reported that President Joe Biden had been presented with options for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities to thwart the potential development of an atomic bomb.
Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons.
Iran has in recent years increased its manufacturing of enriched uranium, and it is the only non-nuclear weapons state to possess uranium enriched to 60 per cent, according to nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency.
That level is well on the way to the 90 per cent enrichment required for an atomic bomb.
