''Alborz'' () is an , Vosper Mark V, of the

Islamic Republic of Iran Navy The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN; ), also referred as the Iranian Navy (abbreviated NEDAJA; ), is the naval warfare service branch of Iran's regular military, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Artesh''). I ...

. It was supplied to pre-revolutionary Iran's Imperial Iranian Navy by Great Britain. Launched in 1969, the frigate dates back to the time of the

Shah of Iran The monarchs of Iran ruled for over two and a half millennia, beginning as early as the 7th century BC and enduring until the 20th century AD. The earliest Iranian king is generally considered to have been either Deioces of the Median dynasty () ...

History

1968–1999

''Alborz'' is an (based on the Vosper Mark 5 design) of the

. It was supplied to pre-revolutionary Iran's Imperial Iranian Navy by the United Kingdom during the time of the

. The ship was originally called ''Zaal'', named after Zaal, a mythical warrior of ancient

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and an important character in

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

's epic poem ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

''. After the 1979

Islamic Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Im ...

it was renamed ''Alborz'', after the Iranian

Alborz mountain range The Alborz ( ) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs northeast and merge ...

. ''Alborz'' was laid down on 3 March 1968, launched on 4 March 1969, and commissioned on 1 March 1971. She completed her refit on 15 May 1977 at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, England. On 1 June 1987 ''Alborz'' stopped a Cypriot large bulk carrier ''Vevey'', and searched it for possible war material for

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Although this was within the Iranian captain's right to do so under international law, this became known as the first search-and-seizure of the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

. In 1988, during

Operation Praying Mantis Operation Praying Mantis was the 18 April 1988 attack by the United States on Iranian naval targets in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for the mining of a U.S. warship four days earlier. On 14 April, the American guided missile frigate stru ...

, an attack by the United States Armed Forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian naval mining of international waters in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

during the

and the subsequent damage to an American guided missile frigate, it saw little use as the Iranian Navy proved no match for the U.S. Navy.

2000–present

In January 2010 the ship was sent to the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

, to protect Iranian maritime interests. In April 2015, ''Alborz'' was deployed along with the supply vessel ''Bushehr'' (together, the Iranian Navy's 34th Fleet) to deliver arms shipments from Iran to the

Houthi The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely ...

s in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, challenging a Saudi Arabian-Emirati blockade of Yemini ports from the delivery of such shipments.Nader Uskowi (2018)
''Temperature Rising; Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Wars in the Middle East''
/ref> The US responded by sending the aircraft carrier USS ''Theodore Roosevelt'' to the

, challenging the Iranian ships, which responded in turn by turning around and heading back to Iran. Judging by photographs, it underwent another modernization during which the Iranian six-barrel Kamand anti-aircraft artillery system was installed on it with an opto-electronic system for detecting and tracking targets. On 1 January 2024, ''Alborz''—at this point 51 years old—deployed to the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

after passing through the

Bab-el-Mandeb The Bab-el-Mandeb (), the Gate of Grief or the Gate of Tears, is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and by extension the Indian Ocean. ...

strait. This happened against a backdrop of Yemen’s Iran-backed

Houthis The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydism, Zaydi Shia Islamism, Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadersh ...

targeting vessels in the Red Sea for weeks, and a day after

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

helicopters sank three Houthi-operated boats that had attacked a

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

in the Red Sea. Iran Defence Minister

Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani () is an Iranian Officer (armed forces), military officer who has served as the deputy General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, chief of staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, ...

said "nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance"."Iran warns against proposed U.S.-backed Red Sea force - ISNA,"
Reuters.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alborz Alvand-class frigates Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1969 ships Frigates of Iran Iran–Iraq War naval ships of Iran Iran–United Kingdom military relations Frigates of the Cold War

History

1968–1999

2000–present

See also

Notes