Iran's Navy loses 19 sailors in a friendly fire incident.

Support ship Konarak. BBC/AFP.

19 Iranian sailors have been killed and 15 more have been injured in a friendly fire incident in the Gulf of Oman. BBC. The support ship Konarak was hit by a new anti-ship missile during testing. The frigate Jamaram fired the missile and hit the Konarak instead of the targets she had deployed. Iranian government sources said the Konarak failed to move far enough away from the targets. The Konarack suffered major damage but was not sunk in the incident. Video of the aftermath of the incident has been posted on Twitter by Irib, an Iranian state broadcaster. 

اولین فیلم از #ناوچه_کنارک بعد از حادثه شب گذشته pic.twitter.com/PeoRdedbfw

— خبرگزاری صداوسیما (@iribnewsFa) May 11, 2020

My Comment:
Though I don't want to make light of the deaths here, I do find this situation fairly interesting. The Iranians were testing a new missile and I think it's clear that it kind of works. It was able to hit and severely damage a target and it certainly caused much mayhem and destruction.

However, it's also possible that this missile simply missed it's target and unluckily hit the Konarak instead. It's also possible that the technology couldn't differentiate between the Konarak and the targets it deployed. In that case it kind of missed but it's unclear exactly what happened.

Either way this is a huge embarrassment for the Iranian Navy. I'm no naval expert but it seems like the Iranian frigate broke one of the key rules of gun safety, and I'd like to think that the same rules should apply here. Never point your gun, or in this case your anti-ship missile, at something you aren't willing to destroy. If the Jamaram didn't want to destroy the Konarack they should have made an effort to make sure it wasn't in the firing lane. For some reason that didn't happen and 19 sailors died for it.

Of course the Konarack should not have stayed in the firing lane either and it's unclear why it didn't move away. Perhaps it was having a mechanical malfunction? Or perhaps it did move away and the missile went off course? Either way, this was a tragedy that seems like it could have been easily prevented.

It's also interesting that Iran is developing new anti-ship missiles. They have always said they could try and shut down the Strait of Hormuz and new anti-ship missiles could help them do so. It could also prove a threat to not only shipping but any US warships in the region. This test was a disaster but it does show that they have some lethal weapons being developed that could be a threat to America and it's interests.