Photo: Tasnim News
The US military has destroyed the Iranian vessel Shahid Bahman Bagheri, considered the world’s first dedicated drone carrier.
According to the United States Central Command on X and Die Welt, the ship was struck shortly after the start of the US operation Operation Epic Fury.
American officials said Iran had been spreading false claims that it had destroyed a US aircraft carrier.
“The only aircraft carrier that was hit is the Iranian drone carrier Shahid Bahman Bagheri,” US Central Command said.
The vessel reportedly caught fire after the strike. The US military did not initially specify which Iranian ship had been hit.
What Is Known About the Ship
According to Die Welt, Shahid Bahman Bagheri was considered the pride of the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The ship could carry helicopters, small boats, missiles and dozens of drones.
The vessel was actually a converted container ship, formerly known as Perarin, measuring about 240 meters in length and 32 meters in width. It was built in 2000 by Hyundai Heavy Industries and converted into a drone carrier between 2022 and 2024.
Its displacement was about 42,000 tons, making it the largest warship sunk since World War II.
For comparison, the previous largest warship destroyed in modern conflict was the Russian cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet sunk by Ukraine in 2022. Its displacement was about 11,500 tons.
Iranian state agency Islamic Republic News Agency previously reported that the ship could carry up to 60 drones, though Western analysts had questioned its real combat effectiveness because it was based on a civilian vessel and lacked heavy armor.
Torpedo Strike
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said an American submarine struck the Iranian ship near Sri Lanka.
