Iranian warship Sahand capsizes in dock after accident

The Sahand was stationed in the southern port of Bandar Abbas

Iranian warship Sahand capsizes in the port of Bandar Abbas. Authorities said the ship became unbalanced due to "water infiltration during repairs." Photo: Tasnim News Agency

An Iranian warship partially sank on Sunday afternoon with the loss of two sailors, after what authorities said was an accident.

The Sahand "suffered from an accident ... and part of the destroyer went underwater" in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the Mehr news agency reported.

The accident was probably caused by "problems in the ship's balance tank or water infiltration during repairs", it quoted Salman Zarbi, head of Iran's Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex (Isoico) as saying.

The Sahand, a missile carrier, was built by Iran's naval ship manufacturer Nedaja and was launched in 2012. The vessel is referred to as a destroyer in Iranian media, but at around 2,000 tonnes, it is closer to the corvette class of ship, a small naval vessel.

It was named after a ship that was sunk by the US military in 1988, during a day-long clash in the Arabian Sea, a naval battle that followed Iranian sea mine-laying, which damaged a US warship.

The ship may now be removed for repairs, Mr Zarbi added.

Naval power symbol

After its launch, the ship, which can carry one Bell helicopter, eight anti-ship missiles and two torpedoes, patrolled the waterways of the region, escorting Iranian cargo ships in the gulfs of Aden and Oman during heightened tensions with the US and Israel.

The Sahand did not make its maiden voyage until 2019, however, a year after the Trump administration’s ending of the 2015 nuclear deal, which had allowed for UN inspections of sites linked to Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of western sanctions on the regime.

Trump imposed harsh measures on Iranian oil exports, a campaign known as "maximum pressure", leading Tehran to launch naval attacks on oil tankers it said had links to the US.

During this period, the Sahand was among the vessels that escorted Iran-linked ships.

Attacks continued after a number of Iran's tankers were seized by US and British forces, while carrying oil considered to be under sanction.

Maritime unrest continued in 2021 despite a brief respite at the start of US President Joe Biden’s tenure, as Israel and Iran launched attacks on civilian vessels linked to companies in each's other country.

During this period, the Sahand was deployed as far afield as the Baltic Sea and Venezuela but was not linked to any attacks on civilian vessels.

Iran and the US continue to seize tankers, with Washington’s naval forces seizing vessels the US says are carrying oil in breach of sanctions, while Iran has responded in kind, with its latest ship seizure in January.

Iran's navy said the seizure of the St Nicholas was "in retaliation for the theft of oil by the American regime".

The attacks are similar to actions by the Iran-backed Houthi group in the Red Sea, an attempt to blockade the critical waterway.

The Sahand, however, had not been involved in what Iran says is a campaign to protect vessels in the area.

The US has accused Iran of using its naval vessels in the Red Sea to pass intelligence information about shipping movements on to Houthis to help them plan and orchestrate their attacks.