TEHRAN - The 86th flotilla of warships from the Iranian Navy berthed at Salalah, the port city of Oman, at the end of a journey that started in the fall of 2022.

On Sunday, the 86th flotilla, which had already traveled further than any other Iranian flotilla in international seas, berthed at Salalah.

The Dena destroyer and Makran forward base ship, which are part of the Iranian flotilla, achieved the record by traveling more than 51,000 kilometers in a single mission. 

After traveling to Saint Petersburg in Russia last year, the 75th flotilla, which included the Sahand and Makran destroyers, achieved a record for navigation of 45,000 kilometers.

The 86th flotilla set sail from south of Iran in early autumn with the purpose of circumnavigating the world. 

The two vessels of the flotilla berthed at Brazil’s southeastern port city of Rio de Janeiro in February.

Dena is a Mowj-class warship that joined the Iranian Navy in June 2021. 

The military vessel is outfitted with anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes and naval cannons.

Makran, a forward base ship weighing 121,000 tons, is the other vessel in the flotilla.

The oil tanker that was converted into a warship is used to support the combat vessels logistically and can carry five helicopters.

The Iranian Navy has established three ocean commands to oversee naval missions to the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans.

“U.S. unable to thwart Iranian warship from passing Panama Canal”

The U.S. failed to stop the Iranian Navy’s 86th flotilla of warships from passing through the Panama Canal, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani recalled as the fleet docked in Salalah.

Irani asserted that “global arrogance” attempted to thwart the goal of the flotilla by threats and penalties, but was unsuccessful.

Speaking with Fars News Agency on Saturday, he noted that “the United States sanction was no more than a rant based on international law. They could not even prevent the flotilla from sailing into the Panama Canal. This was another slap on the face of the Great Satan.”

For the first time in the history of Iran’s navy, the 86th flotilla of Dena and Makran warships set out on a long cruise around the world, sailing across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans without having assistance from land.

On September 20, 2022, it departed from Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Persian Gulf. 

On February 3, 2023, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Dena and Makran warships as Iranian property for sanctions in connection with a broader attempt to target the country’s drone sector.

The chief Navy officer stated in other parts of his interview that France claimed the Iranian vessels had invaded its seas.

The French, on the other hand, were rendered speechless when the flotilla reminded them of their own shipping regulations, he continued.

“The French have some islands in the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, they were not aware of their own regulations and caused disturbances for us, to which we responded with the language of the law,” Admiral Irani remarked. 

He also noted that “the recent incident was a big blow to the French in the field of international shipping, and they never talked about it.”