Ghadir-class submarine

Ghadir is a class of midget submarines built by Iran specifically for cruising within the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. It is named after Ghadir Khumm, a holy place to Shia Muslims. It's based on the North Korean Yono class submarine.

On 24 November 2007 Iranian rear-admiral Habibollah Sayyari announced: "A home-made destroyer called Jamaran and a home-made submarine of Ghadir class will launch operation on November 28." He also said that the submarine is equipped with the latest military and technological equipment and that its capabilities are equal to that of foreign types. Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei was quoted saying: "Today, you have been able to design and build many of the military requirements. We have become self-sufficient from other countries." to Iran's navy commanders on the day the submarine was launched.

New Ghadir submarines were delivered to the Iranian navy on June 2009, August 2010, August 2011, November 2011, February 2012 and November 2012. While Ghadir resembles the North Korean Yono class submarine, it is probably better described as a littoral submarine. The Ghadir class submarines are capable of firing the Hoot supercavitating rocket torpedoes.

Submarines in the class
There are 21 Ghadir-class minisubs in service with the Iranian Navy.