Iran's submarine's 'international mission'

Iran's Yunus submarine has returned from its first "international mission" deployment. Iranian navy commander Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari and navy Capt. Hossein Hariri, the commander of the Yunes met the media at Bandar Abbas port following the submarine's first deployment. "Today we are witnessing the successful return of our 14th naval fleet," Sayyari said. "This is indeed a great day for us, particularly because the Islamic Republic's Yunes submarine was also accompanying the fleet. "After nearly 70 days at sea in hard weather conditions in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, they carried out their mission successfully displaying the naval might of the country," the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Television reported Tuesday. "The meaning of being strategic is this," Sayyari said. "It means that we have to leave our shores and display our system's might at international waters. We must be able to protect our interests in far-away waters." He added that the campaign against terrorism at sea and piracy has become a problem in international waters and the country needs a capable force to protect shipping security in the Gulf of Aden, Bab al-Mandab Strait and other locations. "Displaying the might of the system, its manufacturing capabilities and access to up-to-date technologies in the building of surface and subsurface vessels despite 33 years of sanctions are showing precisely the level of our country's progress," he said. "We are a strategic navy and we are showing that in practice." The submarine was constructed by the Iranian Defense Ministry's Marine Industries. The commander of the 14th naval fleet Ahmad Reza Baqeri said, "We were in fact the ambassadors of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and flag-bearers of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran in international waters and the significance of the mission was so great that the difficult weather conditions at sea, complexities of the mission and particularly being away from home could not have any effect on our endeavor. "We focused all our minds, efforts and endeavor to complete the mission in such a way that it would please the Lord of the Age (12th Imam Mahdi) and his rightful representative His Eminence the honorable leader and commander in chief of the armed forces (Supreme Leader Ali Hoseyni Khamenei)."