TEHRAN (Dispatches) — Iran launched a domestically-built destroyer in the Caspian Sea on Sunday, its first deployment of a major warship in the oil-rich region.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the guided missile destroyer Jamaran-2 in the port city of Anzali, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Tehran.
He said the deployment aimed to bolster peace and friendship in the region. "The destroyer is there to meet those who want to jeopardize the security of surrounding nations," he said.
There are multiple disputes between the nations that surround the Caspian — Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan — on how the inland sea should be divided.
After final tests, the report said, Jamaran-2 will join Iran's naval fleet in the sea in coming months.
The 1,400-ton destroyer, which has a helicopter landing pad, is 94 meters (yards) long and can cruise at 30 knots. It is equipped with surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles as well as anti-aircraft batteries and sophisticated radar and communications terminals.
Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said the Jamaran-2 has been built to help the navy in a wide range of missions.
"The Jamaran 2 destroyer has been built with the purpose of safeguarding the Islamic Republic of Iran's sea borders and supporting missions in combat against human, goods and narcotics trafficking in the northern parts of the country," he said.
Vahidi pointed to the defensive and offensive capabilities of the destroyer, saying it is one of the most practical and multipurpose destroyers in the world which can even become an export product of the defense ministry in the future.
The minister said if Iran had purchased a destroyer similar to Jamaran-2, it would have cost the country four times its construction expenses.
Iran launched a previous version of the Jamaran destroyer in 2010 in the Persian Gulf.
Since 1992, Iran has been building a self-sufficient military, producing its own jet fighters, tanks, missiles and light submarines as well as torpedoes.
Ahmadinejad said that the West has learned from Iran's technical expertise that the country's nuclear capabilities cannot be eliminated.
He said Iran's development and progress serves the security of the Caspian Sea region.
"I am quite confident that Caspian littoral states are happy with Iran's development and regard it in line with their own security."
Ahmadinejad called the Caspian Sea as the sea of brotherhood, durable security and campaign against extremism and those endangering the security of the regional nations.
"Iran's policy is based on promoting solidarity, friendship and convergence among nations," he said.
The president dismissed the West's propaganda against Iran's peaceful nuclear program.
"The fact is that nuclear science has been indigenized by Iranian scientists and this cannot be wiped out from their minds even in the event of our nuclear facilities being bombed."
Ahmadinejad lauded the invaluable services of the experts involved in building the Jamaran-2 destroyer, saying Iranian youths and scientists enjoy high morale and are capable of handling their own affairs.
"Any nation that attains self-sufficiency and independence will achieve dignity and resistance," he said.
