Islamic Republic of Iran Navy
It is charged with the responsibility of forming Iran's first line of defense in the Gulf of Oman and beyond with the mission of acting as an effective blue-water navy. However, it is generally considered as a conventional green-water navy as it mostly operates at a regional level, in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman but also as far afield as the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and northwest quarter of the Indian Ocean. In July 2016, the Navy said that it would establish a presence in the Atlantic Ocean, of unspecified duration.
Territorial disputes in the Persian Gulf
In 1971, after the British left the area Iranian forces claimed the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb, located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf between Iran and the UAE. The Iranians asserted their claims to the islands. Iran continued to hold the islands in 1993, and its action remained a source of contention with the UAE, which claimed authority by virtue of Britain's transfer of the islands to the emirates of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah. However, Britain had also agreed to give full authority to the Iranians in return for Iran's withdrawal of its claim on Bahrain. By late 1992, Sharjah and Iran had reached agreement with regard to Abu Musa, but Ras al-Khaimah had not reached a settlement with Iran concerning Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb. The claim by UAE however is not recognized internationally as at the time Iran and Britain agreed on the fate of the three Islands, the UAE was just two days away from being formed, as a result of British withdrawal from the area and therefore Iranians attacked the island as the UAE was not yet a full country