'Pirates of the Persian Gulf' Iran Deploying Additional UAVs along the Coast.

'Pirates of the Persian Gulf' Iran Deploying Additional UAVs along the Coast. (Bellingcat).

Iran’s southern coastline remains an important deployment location for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe shows a probable Mohajer-4 UAV attached to a pneumatic rail launcher on the side of an unmarked airstrip located near a naval base at Konarak. The airstrip is located on the coast of Iran’s southeast-most province of Sistan and Baluchistan. Support vehicles and the associated ground control station were parked nearby.

Located in an ideal position to monitor shipping near Chahbahar, the UAVs may support the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy base less than 5 miles to the southeast. Various fast attack craft and Iranian auxiliary vessels are based at this facility.

According to satellite imagery, Iran’s German-built Bander Abbas and Pakistan-built Delvar class boats have been consistently deployed to the base. Iran’s Ghadir coastal submarines, an export version of North Korea’s Yono class, have also made an appearance during naval exercises. In December 2011, up to six were deployed from Bander Abbas for Velayat-90, a 10-day military exercise in international waters spanning the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman.

Last June, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari called the southern coast stretch along the Sea of Oman the country’s “Golden Gate”. Read the full story here.Hmmmm...........'Pirates of the Persian Gulf'.......yesterday:

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