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New Iranian Warship Signals Longer Maritime Reach, More Aggressive Strategy

Farzin Nadimi, a Senior Fellow with The Washington Institute, is a Washington-based analyst specializing in the security and defense affairs of Iran and the Persian Gulf region.

Although Tehran tends to exaggerate its naval achievements and blue-water capabilities, the heavy investments it has made in this sector are yielding regionally significant progress.

On September 5, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy launched the Shahid Soleimani , its first of at least three new catamaran missile corvettes with potential stealth features. According to IRGCN chief Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, the vessels will increase the navy’s operational reach beyond the Persian Gulf to as far away as 9,000 km, which would cover the entire Indian Ocean down to Cape Town. The IRGCN has long aspired to send warships to waters near the United States as a propaganda achievement and show of defiance, but it has not been very successful with long-range naval operations thus far—notwithstanding the July 2021 voyage in which the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) deployed the converted supertanker Makran and another vessel to St. Petersburg, Russia, using a circuitous route that circled Africa and crossed in and out of the Mediterranean Sea.    

During the launch ceremony for the Shahid Soleimani (FS313-01), IRGC chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami called the aluminum warship a new high point in Iran’s strategic competition as a world-class power bent on establishing regional hegemony over its adversaries. According to him, the country’s “national security domain and radius go as far as where our interests rest”—including faraway seas if so determined by the Armed Forces General Staff.

The New Ship’s Capabilities

Similar in length (65 meters) and capability to Taiwan’s Tuo Chiang-class missile corvette launched in 2014, the Shahid Soleimani is designed to support and provide protective fires for high-speed armed boats far from Iranian waters. This includes the three boats it can carry itself. The Taiwanese class is designed to counter Chinese naval vessels via hit-and-run tactics and has been dubbed a “carrier killer.” The same nickname has been applied to the smaller Chinese Type 22 catamaran missile boat, which Iran reportedly tried to buy in past years before producing its own class (Beijing refused to sell). The IRGCN also claims that the Shahid Soleimani is a “stealth” vessel with the radar cross-section of a small boat, though its actual capabilities in this regard are uncertain.

Regarding weapon systems, the new vessel is the first Iranian warship equipped with vertical launchers that can fire antiaircraft missiles up to a claimed range of 150 km. It can also use six box launchers to fire antiship missiles such as the Nasir, Ghader, and Ghadir, with ranges of 35 to 300 km. Taken together, these capabilities led Iranian officials to claim that Shahid Soleimani has a “lethal range” in excess of 750 km. To be sure, Iran already has other weapon systems that meet or exceed that range, such as the Abu Mahdi antiship and land-attack cruise missile unveiled in 2020, which can reportedly reach 700-1,000 km. Yet the Shahid Soleimani could greatly extend its reach (albeit with less destructive punch) by launching suicide drones such as the Shahed-131 or 136, which can strike targets up to 1,000 km away (or even 2,200 km according to some unconfirmed sources). The vessel may also be able to launch the Quds-1/2 cruise missile and “Article 385” loitering antiaircraft cruise missile that Iran previously provided to Houthi forces in Yemen.

As for electronic warfare capabilities, the ship is reportedly able to carry extensive equipment of this type, including advanced decoy launchers. In its current configuration, however, Shahid Soleimani has minimal electronic equipment installed.

Catamarans are generally faster and more maneuverable than conventional ships and offer better stability and seakeeping at rougher seas thanks to their twin hull design. This also makes them harder to sink—though aluminum ship hulls tend to melt quickly if set afire by a sea mine, missile, or other projectile (as seen when a catamaran operated by the United Arab Emirates was wrecked by a single Houthi missile in October 2016 while transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait).

A Naval Industry in the Making

More missile corvettes of the same type as Shahid Soleimani are currently being built at shipyards in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, and Bushehr, and the IRGCN claims it will roll them out at a rate of one per year, indicating an expedited delivery schedule. The prime contractor for this program is the IRGCN’s Shahid Mahalati Naval Industries, with the Defense Ministry firms Shahid Darvishi and Shahid Mahboobi working as subcontractors.

In November 2018, Iran’s parliament passed a law merging all Defense Ministry marine factories and industrial groups into one entity, the “Marine Industries Organization of the Armed Forces.” Collectively, these firms produce everything from small speedboats to frigate-size warships, medium submarines, Aframax tankers, diesel engines, waterjets, gearboxes, and so forth, with the aim of making Iran’s domestic naval production fully self-sufficient. This goal may be facilitated by the fact that Iran’s marine industries are believed to be less affected by U.S. sanctions than its aviation and missile industries.

Strategic Implications

Iran vehemently objects to the U.S. naval presence in Middle East waters, with IRGCN officials noting that they work daily to prepare and expand their arsenal toward the goal of repelling U.S. forces . Another key mission has emerged over the past couple years: deterring Israel from expanding its maritime reach to waters near Iran following Jerusalem’s normalization of relations with the UAE and Bahrain. Tehran has also been expanding its supposed “maritime security” presence in the Red Sea after a slew of strikes against Iranian ships there, culminating in the April 2021 attack on the floating armory/spy ship Saviz .

In addition, IRGCN officials note that  Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called on them to expand their reach to “far seas,” framing this mission as a supplement to IRIN’s “strategic blue-water responsibility” but looking more like direct competition with it. In any case, once the Shahid Soleimani completes its protracted sea trial period, the new vessel class may give the IRGCN significant new capabilities—namely, longer-range deployment of missile boats, antiship/antiaircraft missiles, and drones. Coupled with the converted mothership/replenishment vessels Shahid Roudaki (L110-1) and Shahid Mahdavi (110-3), the new corvettes will likely enable sustained IRGCN operations farther into the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond, including support for smaller and more covert speedboat missions.

Of course, the IRGCN has made a habit of exaggerating its accomplishments in the past, and its overall capabilities remain a far cry from America’s both quantitatively and qualitatively. Yet its modest progress toward sustained blue-water operations is undeniable, and there are a number of scenarios in which it could pose a considerable threat to U.S. Navy assets and facilities, not to mention international freedom of commerce and navigation. Going forward, IRGCN assets can be expected to cause trouble farther down the Indian Ocean, both to divert attention and resources from the Persian Gulf and to disrupt regional maritime security initiatives. Iran might also seek to project naval power in the East Mediterranean and escort cargo ships carrying weapons to Syrian ports, especially now that Israel is increasingly pressuring its air-land logistical hubs deeper inside Syria.

Accordingly, the United States and its partners should closely scrutinize the IRGCN’s evolving role and development of new systems. This is especially true today because Iran’s domestic industrial base is gradually beginning to catch up and deliver suitable platforms and associated subsystems, whether by building them from the ground up or converting and repurposing merchant ships.

Farzin Nadimi is an associate fellow with The Washington Institute, specializing in security and defense in Iran and the Gulf region.

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Iranian Warship Sahand Capsizes And Sinks

One of iran's most modern frigates, the sahand, has capsized in bandar abbas. recent upgrades may have made the ship more top-heavy..

H I Sutton 07 Jul 2024

An Iranian Navy frigate, IRIS Sahand (74) has capsized and sunk in its home port of Bandar Abbas. The ship is 12 years old, and is among the most modern surface combatants in the Iranian Navy.

The frigate was reported sunk in local media on July 7 2024. She is seen rolled over onto her port (left) side with her bow higher than the stern. Only the side of the hull and sonar dome appear above the water.

Iranian Navy Prone To Serious Accidents

Initial reporting suggests that it is due to a ‘technical failure; during repairs. However we are treating it as the cause is not yet known. Poor maintenance or a parking accident are most likely, but sabotage of some sort cannot be ruled out at this early point. Iranian frigates have been active in the Red Sea where they are suspected of aiding the Houthis attack merchant ships. Sahand has at times been deployed there.

The Iranian Navy (IRIN: Islamic Republic of Iran Navy) has had a series of serious mishaps in recent years. Among them:

• Sahand’s sister ship Damavand (77) which capsized and sunk after running aground on January 10, 2018.
• Then on June 2 2021 Iran’s then second largest warship, the Kharg, caught fire and sunk in the Gulf of Oman.
• Another sister ship, Talayieh, rolled over in a dry dock in Bandar Abbas on December 6, 2021.
• Other notable accidents have included the support ship Konarak hit by a missile on May 11 2020. That accident was friendly fire, the result of an Iranian missile.

The Improved Frigate, With More Top Weight

The Sahand is one of Iran’s recent indigenous frigates based on the British designed Vosper Mark 5. These were supplied by Britain before the revolution and remain in service with the Iranian Navy. The newer Moudge class ships, including Sahand, are iterative improvements with alternative weapon fits. Sahand had distinctive sloping sides which appear more modern and may attempt to reduce its radar signature.

Since construction the ship had been upgraded to include a new AESA radar, 4-8 medium range air-defense missiles and double the number of anti-ship missiles. This may have raised her center of gravity.

These warships have been deployed to the Red Sea by Iran where they are suspected of providing help to the Houthi Movement who are attacking merchant ships there. The Houthis are using a range of Iranian supplied or assisted weapons. These include anti-ship ballistic missiles, uncrewed surface vessels, anti-ship missiles and drones. It is possible that the Iranian ships have been providing intelligence and assisting on targeting.

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Iran’s fast attack craft fleet: behind the hyperbole

Iran's purchase of the British made world-record setting Bladerunner speedboat stirred up increased chatter on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy's (IRGCN) development of a new fast attack craft (FAC) fleet. Simon O. Williams looks beyond the hyperbole to examine FACs in the context of wider developments in Iran's naval arsenal.

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Analyzing Iran’s Fast Attack Craft Fleet

Technical analysts, policy advisors, strategic planners and even the media rallied around the key buzzwords of ‘anti-access / area denial’ (A2/AD), ‘hybrid warfare’ and ‘swarm tactics’, hyping up the situation. Despite using such niche terminology and increased discussion in the public domain, it is necessary to look beyond the IRGCN’s provocative rhetoric to evaluate such developments in their naval arsenal.

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Science applications international corp, saic pty limited, fac holdings, inc., caterpillar inc, reverse engineering the bladerunner.

Manufactured by Ice Marine, the Bladerunner, sold through a structure of international transactions, ended up in Bandar Abbas, Iran’s largest port, which houses the IRGCN’s headquarters. There, the vessel was dissected, rebuilt and armed with sophisticated weapons systems. Like previous platforms, design analysis from reverse engineering procedures was used to build and commission a fleet of clones capable of executing IRGCN missions in Iran’s littoral areas in the Strait of Hormuz.

Questions were raised about Iran’s ability to copy the main performance components of the Bladerunner, specifically the twin 1,000 HP Caterpillar C18 inboard engines and Arneson ASD12 surface drives, but technical experts suggest that Iran may well have the capabilities to replicate these components and IRGCN leadership claims they’ve already succeeded. With these systems, speed alone would offer the vessels a competitive offensive and defensive performance edge, allowing hit-and-run activities to be executed with top-notch manoeuvrability.

Comparing these activities to Iranian operations during parts of the Iran-Iraq War, dubbed the Tanker War, it is evident that the IRGCN has taken modernisation seriously. Their goal is to replace their underperforming Chinese and North Korean vessels with indigenously produced FACs to participate in ‘swarm attacks,’ a tactic in which waves of small vessels attack a larger slow capital target overwhelming it with small arms / RPG / missile fire, or even ramming it in suicide kamikaze-style attacks. Judging by aesthetics alone, the new fleet emits an air of professionalism as depicted in the box-out comparison.

Arming a faster fleet

These vessels can be outfitted in a variety of configurations, ranging from small arms to cruise missiles. Image analysis reveals that the majority are armed with at least one mounted DShKM 1938 heavy machine gun (12.7×108 mm, slightly larger than .50 cal), as well as 107mm or other similar rocket-launchers.

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Iran’s missile capabilities continue to grow. In reference to arming FACs, deputy defence minister and head of Iran’s Aerospace Organisation, General Mehdi Farah, stated that the country’s “missiles have the capability of being launched from vessels with speeds of over 30 knots, and these missiles include Zafar, Nasr, Noor and Qader.” These are radar guided anti-ship cruise missiles capable of destroying 1,500-tonne targets and damaging even larger ones.

On top of this, the Iranians have imported Russian Shkval torpedoes and created indigenous clones, which they claim are outfitted on some of their FACs. These torpedoes which travel around 200 knots are a threat as many modern seaborne radar and targeting systems cannot engage surface projectiles at that speed.

Iran has already begun practicing delivery of Chinese made EM series and other devices from FACs in the Caspian in order to avoid further tension in the Gulf. Using these assets together with other conventional systems, Iran bolsters its A2/AD capabilities for control of Hormuz. Deploying mines in the strait would leverage Iran’s FAC capabilities, forcing any power to think twice about intervening in the region, let alone transiting the Strait – firstly because of the psychological deterrent of operating in a constricted mined waterway, and second for the expensive, prolonged and dangerous task of post-conflict demining.

Controlling the Strait of Hormuz

The IRGCN seeks to develop and maintain a force capable of preserving Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz. Jumping to conclusions about coalition forces having superior defensive surface capabilities and airpower, which may be correct, unfortunately places thorough analysis of the IRGCN in the backseat. It is imperative to keep in mind Iran’s willpower and creativity and not underestimate the potential of the IRGCN, to execute spontaneous unconventional operations with its ever-growing asymmetric fleet against military or civil assets.

Though a handful of FACs can be easily defeated with a wide array of defensive technologies, including helicopter-launched over-the-horizon targeting systems, a ‘swarm’ of such craft in the triple digits would be beyond overwhelming. Populating the local maritime domain with such a saturation of vessels could render defensive targeting systems useless, as they may not be able to simultaneously monitor, let alone engage, hundreds of swarming Iranian FACs. Moreover, RoE may not be cleared to engage all targets until they are identified, pose a direct threat, and are within their own offensive range.

While the likelihood of an FAC swarm attack against coalition military vessels remains unlikely, should Iran choose to turn its FACs against even one commercial vessel, it could cause catastrophic damage, with global policy and private sector ramifications. The FACs can swiftly outmanoeuvre the civil and military traffic in this relatively narrow and confined waterway and instigate problems, ranging from harassment of military vessels as already done, to a variety of direct attacks against commercial assets in Hormuz, reminiscent of the Tanker War.

Managing director of Strategic Analysis political risk consultancy, Ruth Lux, said: “The Strait of Hormuz is the most important oil chokepoint in the world and Iran is unlikely to close it as its economy is dependent on exporting upwards of two million barrels of oil a day via the Strait. Furthermore, Iran does not want to alienate those countries which oppose broader sanctions and it knows that a closure of the Strait would result in a US-led military response, which Iran wants to avoid. Continued Iranian threats are already having a negative impact on the energy market as Iran is capable of executing damage to infrastructure and harassment of vessels without full closure of the Strait.”

While there appears to be no doubt that a closure of the Strait would be just as detrimental to Iran as to other countries dependent on energy supply from the Gulf, the IRGCN continues to reaffirm its ready ability to close the Strait of Hormuz at ease if provoked. Should a threatened Iran choose to take any A2/AD action in this strategic waterway, it would most likely come as a hybrid operation – using Iran’s FAC fleet in support of shore-based missile capabilities and rapid deployment of naval mines to restrict access through Hormuz. Using these assets together, Iran may be able to leverage its capabilities to execute a more serious and sustained A2/AD operation than commonly perceived.

Seraj-1 fast attack craft

Built on the Bladerunner design, known for its stability, high mobility and power, this vessel was first indigenously cloned in 2010 and then mass produced between 2011 and 2012. The original Bladerunner has a remarkable top cruising speed of 65 knots, but IRGC naval commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi claims his Seraj-1 vessels are modified to 80-85 knots, with later generations expected to reach a target goal of 100 knots. Images show the Seraj-1 outfitted with modified 107mm rocket launchers (11 tubes) and a forward mounted DShKM 1938 heavy machine gun, though other weapon configurations are of course possible.

Torgah fast attack craft, or ‘Boghammar’

These are modified versions of the fast attack craft bought in 1984 from Sweden’s Boghammar Marin during the Tanker Wars and later refitted with Seatek diesel engines and a variety of large calibre armaments, most notably over-bridge 107mm rocket launchers and forward mounted DShKM. In the mid 2000s the Maritime Industries Group, a component of Iran’s state Defence Industries Organisation, began reproducing mono and double-hull variants indigenously.

Zolfaghar fast attack craft

These lightly armoured, indigenously produced Iranian FACs are capable of speeds up to 70 knots. Note the twin tubes for Nasr-1 cruise missiles, as well as forward and rear mounted DShKMs.

Iran has included development of ekranoplans (sea-skimming ground effect vessels) to its FAC portfolio. The Bavar-2 is Iran’s miniature version of a ground effect vehicle design never seriously developed for military use except by the USSR. Iran has built small ekranoplans capable of high speeds over flat land as well as water. The Iranians claim this craft is ‘stealth’ due to its low profile, though specialists indicate otherwise, especially as its exposed engines will glow in thermal imaging. Moreover, IRGN leadership has stated their ekranoplans are armed with machine guns and surveillance cameras.

There has been speculation that the IRGN may use FACs for suicide missions. Some experts argue that FACs used in a suicide-style attack against multibillion dollar navy vessels would be catastrophic. Historically, however, suicide attacks have never been common operating procedure for any navy, let alone Iran, though it should not be ruled out due to increased radicalisation among the IRGC ranks. In today’s paradigm, however, remote controlled, unmanned vessels may be able to deliver a similar affect without the loss of a pilot’s life. Iran has developed the remote-controlled stealth Ya Mahdi, a high-speed unmanned and radar-evasive vessel to do just that.

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Navy, Coast Guard intercept boat with 180 tons of Iranian explosive material headed to Yemen

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard intercepted an enormous Iranian shipment of explosive materials headed to Yemen last week, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command.

The stateless fishing boat was carrying more than 180 tons of urea fertilizer and ammonium perchlorate when the Coast Guard ship USCGC John Scheuerman and Navy guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivans came across the dhow in international waters of the Gulf of Oman on Nov. 8.

For the next five days explosive ordnance disposal technicians from the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 56 and crew from the USS Hurricane searched the boat and identified the substances as urea fertilizer and ammonium perchlorate, which can both be used in explosives.

After U.S. military explosives experts examined the boat and off-loaded the explosive material and Yemeni crew members, the U.S. military deemed the boat a hazard to commercial ship navigation and sank it in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday. The USS The Sullivans transferred the four Yemeni crew to the Yemeni Coast Guard in the Gulf of Aden so they could be handed over to Yemeni civil authorities.

This is the first time U.S. forces assigned to the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain have intercepted ammonium perchlorate, but they seized another large shipment of urea fertilizer earlier this year when the USS Cole and USS Chinook seized a fishing boat in the Gulf of Oman with 40 tons of urea fertilizer coming from the coast of Somalia. 

The U.S. military says it found more than 70 tons of the ammonium perchlorate, an oxidizer that can be used to make rocket fuel, missile fuel, and other explosives. The dhow also had more than 100 tons of urea fertilizer, which can be used as an explosive precursor. 

“Alongside our partner forces, CENTCOM is committed to security and stability of the region and to deterring the illegal and destabilizing flow of lethal material into the region over land, in the air, and at sea,” Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said in a statement about the seizure.

“This was a massive amount of explosive material, enough to fuel more than a dozen medium-range ballistic missiles, depending on the size,” according to Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet, and Combined Maritime Forces. “The unlawful transfer of lethal aid from Iran does not go unnoticed. It is irresponsible, dangerous, and leads to violence and instability across the Middle East.” 

The supply, sale, or transfer of weapons to the Houthis violates UN Security Council Resolution 2216 and international law.

Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

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Elderly Iranians Feel At Home At Noor Active Living in Santa Clara

By Julie Ershadi

Mahin Afkhami worked for an affiliate of Iran’s information and tourism ministry in the 1970s when the Revolution broke out. She and her husband, who had four children studying at universities in the U.S., found themselves unable to send them money to apply for green cards. The couple traveled west to sort out the status of their children’s visas, in what they believed would be a brief trip. They ended up leaving behind everything they had in Iran: their belongings, their wealth, and life as they knew it.

That was 38 years ago. Today, like the hundreds of thousands of Iranians who lived through the revolution and moved abroad, Afkhami speaks proudly of the efforts she made to rebuild her life and ensure her children’s success. Yet as she has advanced in years, she has made the decision to move to an assisted living facility rather than rely on her offspring.

Unlike many elders in the Iranian expatriate community who live with their adult children, Afkhami – who shies away from disclosing her age – is a resident of Noor Active Living , an assisted living facility located in Santa Clara , California. The idea behind Noor is to provide an environment that would be familiar to an Iranian population of patients, who often feel isolated receiving care outside of their home country and away from their families.

“My children want me to go and live with them, but I refuse,” she says in a recent afternoon. “I would be interrupting their lives. They come to visit me and I go over there, but I’d rather have my privacy and live here.”

Noor Active Living was founded with the purchase by a group of philanthropists of an existing assisted living center in need of major renovations in 2009. The idea was to create a place for elderly Iranians in the United States, based on the Kahrizak Charity Foundation , a nonprofit that provides care and a living environment for the elderly and handicapped in Iran.

The driving force at Noor is its executive director, Nazila Safari, a medical doctor in the U.S.  and Iran. Like virtually all of the residents and staff at Noor, Safari is an Iranian immigrant who had to start over in the United States.

Inside the Noor facility, the walls are decorated with calligraphy and traditional paintings. A small study contains a library of books in Persian , including War and Peace in translation, a book on Afghan cuisine , history books, and poetry. On all the floors are authentic Persian rugs , donated by one of the center’s patrons.

In the dining hall, the Iranian-born chef prepares a lunch of ghormeh sabzi (a herb-based stew) for the 12 residents and staff members. Even ta’arof , the Iranian form of etiquette, is present, as when the site manager invites a visiting reporter to stay for lunch.

Outside is a patio lined with persimmon trees and palm fronds. There, accompanied by three caretakers and another resident, Afkhami tells her story of leaving Iran and coming to the United States. She produces an issue of Kayhan International , dated June 3, 1976. Page 3 features her promotion to deputy director for technical and planning affairs at the Tourism Facilities Compan  of Iran.

The group is seated at a patio table spread with Iranian tea, a box of gaz nougat  (candy) fresh from Esfahan , and other traditional snacks. Everyone exchanges knowing glances and nods somberly as Afkhami describes how hard it was to rebuild her and her family’s lives from the ground up.

“I came here with just one small suitcase of things for myself because I didn’t have plans to stay,” she says. “But things got worse. Me and my husband were both in good positions over there, so we would’ve been killed. We never went back.”

“The children were working, going to school, and had a lot of expenses,” she recalled. “It was just the six of us working. Hard.”

Noor’s executive director Safari qualified as a doctor in Iran. But when she came to the United States 22 years ago, her degree was not recognized, and she had to attend U.S. medical school to continue her practice. While in school, she took a job as a live-in nurse with an elderly couple.

“At that time, I didn’t have anybody here,” she says. “So they became my parents, my grandparents, my whole family.”

Alone in a foreign country, she developed a close bond with the family that would change the course of her life.

“Their kids moved out,” she recalls. “I got married and took the elderly woman with me until I could find a place to put her. I noticed all of these assisted living places. I was looking for which one would give her as much love and support as I was giving her.”

It was during her search for a care facility that Safari discovered a pressing situation: here and there, solitary elderly Iranians living in facilities where they related to no one. “There would be one or two Iranians. When they would see me, they would say, ‘Oh my God, you speak Farsi ! Nobody understands me here, I don’t like the food – this is not good!’ It was bothering me,” she says.

Safari started going to assisted living homes in the little free time she had between work and medical school. She wanted to spend time with these elderly Iranians who had been alone up until then. She would sit with them at the care facilities where they lived, translate their words when necessary for the nurses, and spend time with them when their children weren’t available.

As she became more deeply involved in the field of elderly care, Safari helped to open a Sunrise Senior Living branch in Sunnyvale , California, a town adjacent to Santa Clara. According to the company’s website, Sunrise operates internationally with 315 facilities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom .

Opening the Sunnyvale branch got Safari noticed by a group of directors hoping to start their own assisted living community, a not-for-profit facility created with the needs of elderly Iranians in mind. They asked her to help open Noor in 2009, and she agreed. She supervised renovations on the building that the group had acquired, but declined to run the facility, asking them instead to find someone else as she pursued her own professional activities.

After the completion of renovations in 2011, the facility sat unused for two years while the board searched for a substitute for Safari. They approached her again, this time with success. Safari has been director of Noor Active Living since 2013.

As a not-for-profit organization, Noor relies on donations from board members and community groups, as well as the fees charged to its residents. These funds cover expenses, and do not earn a profit for Safari and her staff, which is composed almost entirely of recent Iranian immigrants. The overarching aim, they say, is the respect, comfort and longevity of their patients, who have traveled so far and, in many cases, given up a great deal in the face of political turmoil in Iran.

“They had their independence, their house, their job, their respect in Iran,” Safari says. “They were looking forward to retiring there, going to the supermarket and speaking their own language, negotiating all of that. All of a sudden, they’re an immigrant, they’re brought to a new place where they can’t go anywhere or even speak the language.”

Chewing on gaz and sipping Iranian tea, Noor’s staff members echo the same sentiment that Safari described: what they do is more than a job – it is the love and care of the elderly members of their community, who are living thousands of miles away from the place they all call home. Afkhami, for her part, speaks warmly of the life she lives at Noor.

“We had everything over there,” she says, remembering her life in Iran before the revolution. “Now, this is the best place I could be. It is home.”

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Series 9 • The latest news from ITV News at Ten

1h 15m • The story of the war in Gaza and the attacks on the 7th of October, 2023

Series 25, 26, 26 • Compelling current affairs stories that get to the heart of what matters

1h • Prince Harry, Hugh Grant & others open up about the hacking scandal

Series 10 • ITV News' Robert Peston presents his lively political interview programme

1h • Seven politicians go head to head in ITV's General Election debate

1h • Martin hosts a summer special packed with financial 'need to knows'

50m • Join the party leaders for in-depth interviews

1h 10m • The leaders go head to head in the first TV General Election debate

1h 20m • Witness the inside story of Theresa May's tumultuous premiership

40m • Travels across the UK to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover

40m • Shehab Khan follows the holy month of Ramadan and sees how it's observed

1h • The former gymnasts & their powerful fight for justice

1h • Journalist Robert Moore lifts the lid on Donald Trump's latest comeback

1h 5m • Timely documentary about the history of a controversial NHS unit

Series 1 • Starmer's victory speech, the rise of Reform and more

Series 1 • Watch every moment of Prime Minister's Questions

From excitement to agony - here are the must-watch moments

30m • How a groundbreaking covert police operation caught a killer

Watch key moments as Reform UK secure several seats

The Labour leader vows to 'rebuild Britain'

Sir Ed Davey hails the Liberal Democrats' 'historic result'

Julie Etchingham hosts as the final, damning Grenfell Report is released

Rishi Sunak speaks outside No 10

Starmer speaks minutes after Labour wins General Election

Catch up on the results as big names are booted out

30m • The ITV News archives reveal the real-life stories behind 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office'.

1h • Compelling story of the children taken to Russia after war broke out