Iran inducted its newly acquired Russian-built submarine into its navy Monday and became the first country in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region to have an underwater war-fare capability.
State-run Tehran Radio said the Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine was named "Tareq 901" in honor of a Muslim warrior.The report, monitored in Nicosia, was the first official confirmation by Iran that it has acquired the submarine, which has alarmed the United States and Iran's Arab neighbors in the gulf.
The sub, the first of two that Iran bought from Russia, dramatically alters the naval balance in the region. It comes as the Islamic republic undertakes a major rearmament program and resumes its effort to spread revolutionary militancy in the Arab world.
That would threaten merchant shipping. Twenty percent of the world's oil supplies pass through the gulf and its chokepoint, the Straits of Hormuz.
There are fears that the Iranian military purchases could trigger a submarine race in the region, whose oil-rich states are among the biggest spenders on arms.
The U.S. Navy tracked the submarine as it sailed through the Red Sea on the last leg of its two-month voyage from St. Petersburg.
A French naval commander advised other gulf states not to rush to buy submarines, but to acquire minesweepers.
Earlier this month, the USS Topeka, a nuclear-powered submarine, entered the gulf. It is widely believed the Topeka is there to monitor the new Iranian sub and to demonstrate U.S. resolve to help defend oil states in the gulf.