Iran conflict 2026: CENTCOM commander says all IRGCN Soleimani class destroyed

The IRGCN vessel Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was in port and not armed with anti-ship missiles when it was hit. (US Central Command)

All four of Iran's Soleimani-class ships have now been destroyed, US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper announced in a video released on 11 March.

“To date, we have struck more than 5,500 targets in Iran, including more than 60 ships,” he said in an update on Operation ‘Epic Fury' that began on 28 February. “Just yesterday, we had strike waves nearly every hour … we also took out the last of four Soleimani class warships.”

The video included footage that CENTCOM released on 10 March showing an unidentified Soleimani class being hit, as well as previously unreleased footage of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (PC31301), a similar but smaller missile-armed catamaran that was also in service with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy (IRGCN).

The 10 March CENTCOM video also appeared to show a Ghadir mini submarine and several missile-armed fast inshore attack craft being hit.

US Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth announced during a 4 March press briefing that the first of class Shahid Soleimani (FS313-01) had been sunk the previous evening and CENTCOM released footage on the same day showing one with the FS313-03 pennant of third-of-class Shahid Sayad Shirazi on fire.

Later on 10 March, CENTCOM announced that multiple Iranian naval vessels had been destroyed earlier that day, including 16 minelayers. The announcement was illustrated with a video showing one of the IRGCN's Tondar-class fast attack missile craft, an unarmed landing craft, and several small boats being hit.

Iran conflict 2026: The demise of the Iranian navies