IRGC Navy Launches a Ballistic Missile From The Deck of The Shahid Mahdavi
On 13 February, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy claimed to have launched a medium-range ballistic missile from the deck of the Shahid Mahdavi warship (formerly a container ship), which went into service eleven months ago. Footage of this test, which represents a first for the Iranian navy, was broadcast by Iranian state television. However, details such as when and where the test was conducted, or the name of the missile fired were not disclosed.
Iranian state television footage shows two ballistic missiles being fired from two containers, one red and the other white, on the deck of the Shahid Mahdavi warship. Open-source intelligence analysts identified these missiles as Dezful medium-range ballistic missiles. The Persian banner on the white container from which one of the Dezful missiles was fired suggests that, while the launch was recently announced, it may have occurred during the “Great Prophet-18” exercise, which was held in January but was canceled due to the malfunction of some missiles. Furthermore, since the Shahid Mahdavi was stationed at the IRGC naval base in Hormozgan province, the test launch was most likely carried out in the Gulf of Oman.
The Dezful MRBM is a more advanced and larger version of Iran’s short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), Zolfaghar, which was unveiled in 2016. This missile, which was first displayed during the Islamic Republic of Iran’s 40th anniversary celebrations, is said to be capable of reaching Mach 7 (8,643 km/h) and having a range of more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). Given that the Shahid Mahdavi offshore warship is 240 meters long and 27 meters wide, it is possible that the IRGC will integrate many more launch containers on the deck to fire these and similar missiles. In addition, the IRGC may use Dezful and similar ballistic missiles in the future on the IRIS Shahid-Roudaki, IRIS Saviz, and IRIS Behshad ships with similar deck sizes.
Speaking to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander Hossein Salami stated that a long-range ballistic missile was successfully launched from a Revolutionary Guards Corps military ship, and that with this new success, Iran can now target “anywhere it wants” since ocean-going warships “can be present anywhere in the world.” Salami also highlighted the range of the missiles carried by these warships, warning, “Our enemies must know that there is no safe place for them anymore.”
On the same day that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that they had launched a ballistic missile from the Shahid Mahdavi, they additionally provided the press footage of an attack they carried out with Emad and Qadr ballistic missiles on a fake target designed to resemble the Palmachim Air Base, which houses the Israeli Air Force’s F-35 aircraft. In addition to simulated attacks, the footage showed short-range missiles being launched from speedboats, catamarans, and submarines. These demonstrations appear to send a clear message in relation to rising regional tensions caused by the Israel-Hamas conflict and US retaliatory strikes against Iran’s proxy militias.