Iranian President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated Sunday a new domestically-built submarine armed with cruise missiles at a time of rising tensions with its arch-enemy the United States.
“From this moment, the Fateh Submarine joins Iran’s naval force with my order,” Reuters quoted Rouhani as saying.
The Fateh submarine weighs 600 tons, Iranian press said, adding that it “enjoys state-of-the-art weaponry, including torpedoes, naval mines and cruise missiles that could be launched from a submerged position”.
Separately, Rouhani said Tehran was ready to improve ties with the Gulf states, denying that his country was driven by its interests against others.
He instead accused countries criticizing Iran's meddling in Arab internal affairs of having ties with Israel – a matter denied by them.
He made his remarks soon after the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Mohammad Ali Jaafari accused the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia of being behind last week’s attack on an IRGC bus near Zahidan that killed and wounded 40.
“Just in the past year, a minimum of six suicide attacks were neutralized but they were able to carry out this one,” he said.
Rouhani, for his part, warned: “We will certainly follow with retaliatory measures.”
The Jaish al-Adil (Army of Justice) group claimed responsibility for the attack, 100 kilometers away from the Iranian-Pakistani border.
