Officials have declared two people missing after an Iranian military vessel crashed in the Caspian Sea.
Army spokesman General Shahin Taqikhan told the pro-regime Tasnim News that the crash occurred as the vessel was docking at the port in the northern Iranian of Gilan as a result of stormy weather the conditions. He added that the vessel had suffered serious damage as a result.
The vessel, a 100-meter-long destroyer weighing over 1300 tons, was designated the Navy’s northern fleet in the Caspian Sea in March 2015. Its design and production required expertise from over 700 industrial, research and academic Iranian organizations.
Iran’s navy is a prominent part of the country’s defense strategy and last year announced plans to build a naval base at the port of Latakia in Syria, which boasts a significant Russian presence, as payment for their support of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army in the country’s ongoing civil war.
The country is reportedly planning to capitalize on the expiration of an international arms embargo in 2020, purchase new warships, submarines, and cruise missiles.
Iranian ships have also made a habit of harassing other international carriers. U.S commanders claimed last year that they had been routinely targeted while transporting goods through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
The incident comes days after an Iranian oil tanker transporting around 136,000 tons of condensate, an ultralight version of crude oil, exploded in the East China Sea after colliding with a bulk carrier around 160 miles off the coast of Shanghai.
A week-long international rescue operation ensued, although extreme weather hindered efforts and ultimately none of the 32 crew members onboard survived.
The Chinese state propaganda outlet Global Times has since claimed that the incident presents a “potential environmental disaster,” choosing to quote an expert named Lin Boquiang who believed it would bring “huge disaster to the ecological environment as well as the fishery industry.”
“Marine creatures could die from the spilled oil, and a big reduction in aquatic products can be expected,” said Boqiang, who is the director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.
Meanwhile, Iran also faces significant domestic challenges with the rise of a widespread protest movement, that has seen millions of people take to the streets in anti-government demonstrations.
It is the third collision by an Iranian ship to take place in the past 18 months, after another Iranian supertanker also crashed with a container ship in the Singapore Strait in July 2016. However, no injuries or oil contamination were reported.
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