How Many Warships Does Iran's Navy Have?

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a combined offensive against the Islamic Republic of Iran dubbed Operation Epic Fury. The conflict quickly spread throughout the Middle East as Iran retaliated against U.S., Israeli, and allied targets in the region, resulting in several military and economic impacts in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is not a landlocked nation, as it borders the Persian Gulf to the South and the Caspian Sea to the North.

It also doesn't lack a navy, with the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) functioning as a branch of the military alongside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy. These forces employ several types of ships, leading many in the world to wonder how many warships Iran has and what type they use. The simple answer is that Iran doesn't have many of what the rest of the world would consider warships, but it's not lacking in dangerous watercraft either.

In total, the IRIN has more than 100 vessels and over 18,500 personnel, according to estimates from 2025. The IRGC Navy operates asymmetric warfare vessels of various kinds, amounting to around 45 or more smaller warships. Combined, Iran operates some 145+ military combat vessels and hundreds of smaller watercraft, and it's likely that they're all in play in the conflict. Much of its strength lies in fast-attack watercraft that are designed to breach the perimeter defenses of larger vessels to swarm and attack. This isn't all that Iran has floating on or under the water's surface, as there's also a small fleet of diesel-powered submarines.

The IRIN operates a number of traditional warships alongside various other types of watercraft. It utilizes several prominent naval bases and ports for operations throughout the region, and according to Global Firepower's 2026 report, the IRIN is ranked 35th out of 145 naval forces across the globe. While it doesn't have large aircraft carriers or similar types of massive blue-water navy vessels, the IRIN has (or possibly had) three modern destroyers capable of conducting intelligence operations and launching missiles.

It also employs seven frigates and a variety of amphibious assault ships and corvettes. The IRIN utilizes around 25 submarines, 21 patrol vessels, and one mine warfare ship. On March 1, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Operation Epic Fury had sunk nine unspecified vessels of the IRIN. While he didn't detail the types of ships, he described them as being large and important, so it's possible that they were frigates and/or destroyers.

Iran doesn't have nuclear submarines, but that doesn't mean that its fleet of subs isn't potentially dangerous throughout the region. The Tariq-class Russian-made third-generation submarines used by the IRIN can launch cruise missiles, lay mines, and sink ships. Fateh, Ghadir, and Nahang-class subs are also potentially dangerous with a variety of capabilities, including functioning as torpedo and missile-launch platforms. As of this writing, it's unclear precisely how many vessels remain in operation, but the IRIN is not an innocuous military and remains a powerful player in the region.

While the IRIN operates what are more traditionally considered to be warships, the IRGC Navy is more asymmetric in its naval operations. Lacking the capabilities to employ massive vessels like the U.S. and other Western navies, the IRGC Navy has spent a great deal of time and money developing fast-attack craft. According to reporting from June 2025, the fleet consists of 10 Houdong missile boats, 25 Peykaap II missile boats, five C-14 boats, and ten MK13 boats.

A new type of Iranian speedboat used by the IRGC Navy can go 126.6 mph, shoot anti-ship cruise missiles, and is a potential danger to any of the American or allied nations' types of modern warships in the region. Most of the IRGC Navy's fleet is used for fast hit-and-run attacks, so the smaller and lighter the craft, the more efficient it is in these types of operations. Reporting in August 2024 indicated that the IRIN received more than 2,600 missile and drone systems of various types, though it's unclear if any were provided to the IRGC Navy.

It's likely that the asymmetric warfare operations conducted by the IRGC Navy utilize a variety of drones built and operated by Iran, but much of its activity remains unclear due to the secrecy of its operations. In terms of the number of speedboats operated by the IRGC Navy, they likely have hundreds or even thousands, as these truly are regular speedboats that can be easily armored and armed with a variety of weapons. In 2024,the IRGC Navy received two stealthy patrol boats, Shahid-Soleimani-class catamaran corvettes.