MNA– Commander of Iran’s Navy Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Sahand destroyer will join Iran’s marine fleet in the near future.Speaking in an IRIB program on Saturday, Sayyari said Iran’s Navy started destroyer construction plan back in 1998 in a move to follow the prudence and measures of Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei.

First home-made destroyer “Jamaran” was launched in February 2007 and commissioned in February 2010, he noted.

Pointing to the Leader’s recommendations on imporoving the next generations of destroyers, Navy commander said the next generation of destroyers need more advanced technology to attend missions on high seas.

Sayyari underlined that the manufacture of new military destroyers in Iran has made substantial progress and the highest degree of development belongs to Sahand.

Sahand is the third destroyer produced as part of the Mowj (Wave) project in Iran. Its predecessors, Jamaran and Damavand, are currently in service and employed in naval missions in the international waters.

Damavand is the second destroyer produced last year and joined Navy fleet in Caspian Sea, he said.

“A destroyer should operate several defensive and offensive missions at the same time and be able to defend against enemy air attacks and also have the possibility of defense and offense for under-the-sea attacks,” Sayyari added.

He said Sahand has a stealth capability 30 percent greater than the previous models, Jamaran and Damavand destroyers.

Admiral Sayari said the design of destroyer “Sahand” is based on modern technology, not application of reverse engineering; a restricted number of countries have the technology to build the destroyers and reaching the highest peak is pleasant despite sanctions, he asserted.

"Different specialized forces hold approximately 25 specialized missile, subsurface, intelligence, etc. drills annually, Sayyari said noting that Iranian naval forces stage large-scale drills to boost and put on display the country’s military prower.

Elaborating more on Velayat 95 naval maneuver held on Sunday, Sayyari said it covers an area of two million square kilometers all the way from the Strait of Hurmuz, the Sea of Oman, North Indian Ocean and Bab-el-Mandeb to 10° latitudes; he promised the operation of a new destroyer next year with new features and greater prominence.

Pointing to the naval diplomacy, Admiral Sayyari said we have made ties with all the countries around the Indian Ocean and with Caspian Sea littoral states and conduct with Islamic cultural traditions with all the major ports where we travel.

Touching upon the agenda of Iran’s Navy, Sayyari referred to the delivery of a flotilla to Kazakhstan at the moment, and to Turkmenistan and Russia in future.

He added that the Navy will also host Pakistani and Azerbaijani forces in the near future.

In 2018, Admiral said, Iran will host 40 teams from around the world, including the countries that border the Indian Ocean in the next Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) meeting in 2018.

The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime cooperation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussing maritime issues across the region.