Name Iran Ajr Acquired by purchase, 1978 Length 54 m | Christened Arya Rakhsh Renamed Iran Ajr (1980) Draft 3 m | |
 | ||
Builder Teraoka Shipyard - Minamiawaji, Japan Fate Seized and scuttled by U.S. Navy, 26 September 1987 | ||
Iran Ajr, formerly known as the Arya Rakhsh, was a Japanese-built landing craft used by Iran to lay naval mines during the Iran–Iraq War. Built in 1978, the 614-ton, 54-meter ship was powered by two diesel engines and featured a bow ramp for unloading cargo. She was scuttled in 1987.
Iran–Iraq War
On 21 September 1987, U.S. forces involved in Operation Prime Chance tracked Iran Ajr and dispatched army helicopters from the Navy guided missile frigate USS Jarrett to shadow it. Prime Chance was the covert part of Operation Earnest Will, the mission to protect U.S.-flagged petroleum-carrying ships in the Persian Gulf. When the aviators reported that people aboard Iran Ajr were laying mines, the U.S. commander in the Persian Gulf ordered the pilots to "stop the mining." The helicopters fired on the ship, killing some of the mariners and chasing others into the water. A team of Navy SEAL commandos later boarded the ship, confirmed the presence of mines, and detained the surviving Iranians. On 26 September, EOD MU5 Detachment 5 scuttled the ship in international waters.
When the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine the following April, navy explosive ordnance specialists matched the serial numbers of nearby unexploded mines to the ones aboard Iran Ajr. This evidence of Iranian involvement in the mining of Samuel B. Roberts led to the biggest surface-warfare naval battle since World War II, the retribution campaign of 18 April 1988 called Operation Praying Mantis.
The captured colors of Iran Ajr are in the U.S. Navy Museum.