ran has unveiled a new domestically-produced missile submarine amid mounting tensions with the United States and Saudi Arabia in the Persian gulf.
Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, inaugurated the Fateh, or "Conquerer", in the southern port city of Bandar Lengeh on Sunday.
"From this moment, the Fateh Submarine joins Iran’s naval force with my order," he said at a ceremony broadcast live on the state-run English-language Press TV.
"Our defence power is solely defensive…Our enemy’s pressure and sanctions imposed on Iran have instigated our progress," he said.
The vessel weighs 600 tonnes and is armed with torpedoes, naval mines and cruise missiles that can be launched from a submerged position, the government’s English-language Press TV said.
Iran has developed a large domestic arms industry in the face of international pressure and embargoes that have barred it from importing many weapons. The Fateh is its first domestically produced cruise-missile submarine.
The Iranian navy already possesses at least three Russian-built Kilo class attack submarines and domestically-produced midget submarines.
Last year it launched a domestically built destroyer which state media said has radar-evading stealth properties.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, pulled out of a 2015 nuclear agreement and reimposed sanctions on Tehran in May 2018, saying the deal did not sufficiently curb Iran’s development of ballistic missiles.
Mr Trump has also attacked Iran for its backing of para-military proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.
The European signatories of Iran’s nuclear deal have resisted American pressure to scrap the deal, but have stepped up criticism of Iran’s ballistic missiles program.
Iran says it has missiles with the range of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles), which puts Israel and U.S. military bases in the region within reach.