The carrier, called the , is a commercial vessel that was repurposed as a drone carrier over the past two-and-a-half years

Iran has inaugurated its first drone-carrier warship, saying the vessel is capable of operating in oceans far from its mainland.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have taken delivery of the country's first ship capable of launching drones and helicopters at sea, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. Amid military exercises lasting from early January to early March,

Iran's dedicated drone carrier was shown at sea on Thursday, in a report by state broadcaster IRIB. The Shahid Bahman Bagheri, which became operational in December, is a converted civilian container ship purchased from South Korea more than 20 years ago.

With a 180-meter-long runway for drones, the vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports

The new naval platform was unveiled amid military exercises that ran from early January to early March, as Tehran braces for heightened tensions with Israel and the US under President Donald Trump. Described as a transformation of a former commercial container vessel,