The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed on 8 February that its naval wing has taken delivery of 340 new boats, implying a massive expansion of the force and its ability to take on naval forces in the Gulf, especially as it comes eight months after the handover of more than 100 fast attack craft was announced. Analysis of the imagery of the handover at the IRGC Navy's main base in Bandar Abbas, together with satellite imagery of the facility on 6 February, when most of the boats had been lined up for the event, show at least 199 were displayed on land, including a semi-submersible torpedo craft. Several additional vessels were also displayed in the water, including a civilian passenger ferry and a motor yacht. Many of the vessels could have been ones already in service with the IRGC that were lined up to give an inflated impression of the force's growing strength. The semi-submersible, for example, looked the same as one displayed in 2015 and could have been one of the types Iran obtained from North Korea around 20 years ago.
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