Iran’s navy: Stealth-stalking the planet

On 9 March 2023, a webcam caught Iranian frigate IRIS Dena (F-75) underway departing Rio de Janeiro at the end of an extended port visit that began on 26 February 2023.

Forward support base IRINS Makran (441) was presumably in company with Dena.  Although Iran’s leaders have threatened to send the two-ship flotilla through the Panama Canal on this “round the world” deployment, it has been a vexed question from the beginning where the ships are at a given time, and it isn’t clear if they’re headed for the canal now.

There is naturally speculation that the warships will stop in Venezuela next.  If they do, they could already be off the coast from Caracas given their departure from Rio on Thursday.

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Maritime notes: Russia, Nigeria, Greece, etc.

A few comments on what’s going on at sea.

Nigeria, Russia, and a private-security ship

Earlier this month, Nigerian authorities seized a ship operated by the Moran Security Group.  In the usual manner, the ship, M/V Myre Seadiver, is flagged by the Cook Islands, was built in Norway in the 1960s, was Norwegian owned and flagged for most of its life, and is now owned and operated by Moran Security Group in Moscow.  The entire crew, according to media reporting, is Russian.  The ship is accused of arms trafficking.