Iran is planning to build an aircraft carrier, a senior Iranian navy commander has said as he announced that the country is pursuing greater maritime warfare capabilities.
“At present, the Defense Ministry and the Navy are both after building military equipment for naval warfare but the Defense Ministry is producing different types of missiles indigenously and the Navy's needs to missiles are met using this capacity,” Deputy Navy Commander for Coordination Admiral Peiman Jafari Tehrani said on Monday, as cited by semi-official Fars news agency.
“Building an aircraft carrier is also among the goals pursued by the Navy and we hope to attain this objective,” he added.
It is not the first time that Tehran has voiced plans to build an aircraft carrier. In 2011, Iran's Deputy Navy Commander Captain Mansour Maqsoudlou told IRNA news agency that initial designs for building the carriers had been approved.
The idea was then mentioned in 2014 when Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari claimed the country was capable of building aircraft carriers, as well as heavy submarines.
"As we have managed to produce warships and submarines, we also have the capability to build aircraft carriers and heavy submarines," Sayyari said at the time.
Earlier in December, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the national nuclear agency to start developing nuclear propulsion capability for marine transportation.
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