How Iran Destroyed Iraq’s Navy in a Single Battle
Eight years later, the Iranian Navy itself saw much of its own combat strength destroyed by the U.S. Navy’s Operation Praying Mantis.
Here s What You Need To Remember: In exchange for sinking the
Paykan, the Iraqi Navy lost five Osa missile boats and four P-6 torpedo boats roughly 80% of its strength. It would play little role for the remainder of the war, leaving it up to the Iraqi Air Force to launch attacks on Iranian shipping.
On September 22, 1980 Saddam Hussein launched Iraq into a full-scale invasion of Iran hoping to capitalize on Iran’s instability due to the Iranian Revolution.
How does the rag-tag fleet intend to fight its future wars?
Key point: Tehran does not have a very advanced or big navy. However it does have the ability to harrass its enemies.
Tensions have escalated in the Persian Gulf region in the aftermath of U.S. president Donald Trump’s decision unilaterally to withdraw the United States from the agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. military has implicated Iranian agents in several summer 2019 attacks on civilian ships sailing near Iran. The U.S. Navy sent the aircraft carrier USS
Abraham Lincoln and her strike group to the region. The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers and F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.
And not just its submarines.
Here s What You Need to Remember: At least 56 Iranians died in that round of fighting. Two U.S. Marines perished when their helicopter crashed. Battered, the Iranian fleet pulled back, and since then has been hesitant to make good on its periodic threats against Iran’s neighbors and the United States.
The Iranian navy is about to get a little bit bigger. But it’s still hopelessly outclassed by rival fleets. The naval imbalance could weigh on diplomatic and military strategies in Tehran, Washington, D.C. and other world capitals as tensions escalate in the Persian Gulf region.