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In yet another embarrassing episode for Iran, the replica a U.S. aircraft carrier it built to intimidate President Donald Trump has backfired in a big way.
The Iranian regime is being mocked by its own citizens after the multi-million dollar vessel sank “and risks causing a shipping hazard in the approach to the harbour of Bandar Abbas,” UK’s The Sun reports.
The Sun quotes naval expert H.I. Sutton, who wrote in Forbes that the ship “is meant to be reusable and has been symbolically ‘destroyed’ twice already. But now it really has sunk. And in very much the wrong place… It is just outside the harbour entrance to Bandar Abbas, near to the main approach channel.”
New imagery from yesterday shows the capsized #IRGC replica of the Nimitz Class Carrier appears to have listed more outside of Bandar Abbas Port, #Iran. She appears more listed here than previous imagery from the 31st July. The depth here is a reported 14m. Fun to reclaim…. pic.twitter.com/tKTHJAaGCS
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) August 2, 2020
“The water there is approximately 45 feet deep, which is shallow. This makes it worse for Iran because it cannot be left to sink. It is so shallow that other ships face a very real risk of catastrophic damage if they sail over it… This is a serious shipping hazard.”
Satellite imagery shared by Aurora Intel shows the boat listing on its side as it sinks.
The real U.S.S. Nimitz.
Last week, Iran was boasting about its war games targeting the replica, which carried 16 mock-ups of fighter jets on its deck.
It appeared to be some 650 feet long and 160 feet wide. An actual Nimitz is 50% larger at over 980 feet long and 245 feet wide.
Iran released images of speed boats circling around the ship in a mock attack. Drones targeted the bridge of the fake aircraft carrier in a separate attack. Iran also released a video showing missiles launched as part of the war exercise.
A semiofficial news agency close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also published a graphic photoshopping the image of an American carrier into the shape of a casket, with a caption quoting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pledging to seek revenge for the U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in January.
–Metro Voice and wire services
