(CNN Spanish) — Two Iranian Navy warships are sailing in international waters off the coast of Latin America, according to Iranian state media and Brazilian authorities.
The 86th flotilla, made up of the destroyer IRIS Dena and the warship IRIS Makran, has been circling the world since the end of September 2022 “with a message of peace and solidarity” and at the same time to show “the growing military and naval power of the Islamic Republic of Iran”according to the Iranian state agency IRNA.
The two ships received permission on January 13 to dock at the port of Rio de Janeiro, between January 23 and 30, according to an official document of the Brazilian Ministry of Defense.
It was not clear whether or not the ships had finally docked in Rio de Janeiro, however. CNN contacted the Brazilian Navy General Staff but did not receive a response.
In the next few days the flotilla will head to the Panama Canal, the Iranian agency reported. Tasnimciting statements by Rear Admiral Shahram Irani.
The Iranian-made destroyer IRIS Jamaran, the first of the Mowj class to which the IRIS Dena belongs, sails in the Gulf on February 21, 2009. (Credit: EBRAHIM NOUROZI/AFP via Getty Images)
The presence of the ships in Latin America was also reported by Rear Admiral Hamzeh Ali Kaviani, second in command of the Iranian Navy, according to the state chain. Press TV.
The 86th Flotilla is one of three squadrons currently deployed by Iran in international waters: the 88th Flotilla stands in the Indian Ocean and the 89th Flotilla in the Pacific.
While the IRIS Dena is a destroyer class Mowj —the Moudge— manufactured in Iran of 1,300 tons of displacement, armed with missiles, torpedoes and cannons, and which entered service in 2021, according to the state agency More.
While the IRIS Makran is a oil tanker converted into a logistics ship for military use, weighing 121,000 tons (the largest ship in the Iranian navy).
recent tensions
Iran has had tense relations with the West for decades, and in recent years has been at the center of the world stage due to the exit of the United States from the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 —a pact designed to reduce tensions through concessions on both sides—, ordered by Donald Trump in 2018, and the election of Ebrahim Raisi, an ultra-conservative cleric, as the country’s president in 2021.
Recently, Iran has returned to the center of attention for the wave protests after the death of Mahsa Amini —violently repressed— and also for having also been supplying Russia with drones for military use, which were deployed in combat in Ukraineand its military forces, especially the Republican Guards, have had run-ins with US ships in the Persian Gulf.
If the Dena and the Makran finally arrive in Panama, moreover, they will do so in the midst of another diplomatic conflict, after the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) withdrew its flag from 136 ships linked to the state company National Iranian in mid-January Oil Company (NIOC) according to the Archyde.com agency.
The decision is due to suspicions that these vessels could be linked to the financing of terrorist groups, said the AMP in a statement cited by Archyde.com, in the context of increasing US sanctions on Iran.
Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) said the de-flagging of 136 ships is “insignificant” and was the result of “political pressure from the US imperialist government,” according to HispanTV, a Spanish-language Iranian state channell.
Panama has the largest ship registry in the worldgiving its flag to 8,653 ships.