Iran’s Navy announced Saturday it has dispatched two naval vessel on a routine mission to high seas, including the Gulf of Aden.

The Army's 81st naval fleet left the country’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Friday after a see-off ceremony attended by the Navy’s commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani.

Irani said during the ceremony that the mission is aimed at maintaining the Islamic Republic’s sway in international waters and providing security for merchant vessels and tankers in the region.

The fleet is comprised of a logistic ship and the Alborz warship, which is one of Iran’s three Alvand class – aka Saam class frigates that were originally built for the Imperial Iranian Navy. They were renamed after the Iranian Revolution and served in the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy during Iran-Iraq War. A fourth was sunk by the US Navy in 1988.

Iran barely has an ocean-going navy as it has not been able to acquire significant warships from naval powers and has attempted to build or convert commercial vessels to warships.

In May 2021, reports emerged that Iran dispatched two naval vessels to the Western hemisphere and an Iranian official confirmed the destination as Venezuela in June.

Then-commander of the navy, Hossein Khanzadi, said that the presence of its vessels in the Atlantic Ocean “is a response to US claims that Iran would never be able to have a presence in the Atlantic.”