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Iran unveils new helicopter-carrying catamaran ship

Associated Press
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Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard stand in front of a newly inaugurated high-speed catamaran, in the port city of Bushehr, northern Persian Gulf, Iran, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday unveiled a new high-speed vessel the force says is capable of carrying a helicopter and up to 100 people, Iranian state TV reported. The report follows a series of close encounters between American warships and Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf. (AP Photo/Hossein Ostovar/Tasnim News Agency) (The Associated Press)

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard sit in front of a newly inaugurated high-speed catamaran, in the port city of Bushehr, northern Persian Gulf, Iran, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday unveiled a new high-speed vessel the force says is capable of carrying a helicopter and up to 100 people, Iranian state TV reported. The report follows a series of close encounters between American warships and Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf. (AP Photo/Hossein Ostovar/Tasnim News Agency) (The Associated Press)

In this frame grab from video provided by IRINN, Iranian TV, a new catamaran vessel is unveiled in the port of Bushehr, Iran, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Iran's state TV said the country's Revolutionary Guard unveiled a new high-speed vessel capable of carrying a helicopter and up to 100 people. The report follows an increase in the frequency of close encounters between American warships and Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf. (IRINN-Iranian TV via AP) (The Associated Press)

Iran's state TV says the country's Revolutionary Guard has unveiled a new high-speed vessel capable of carrying a helicopter and up to 100 people.

The report on Tuesday follows a series of close encounters between American warships and Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf.

It showed a catamaran-type ship described as 55 meters (yards) long and 14 meters (yards) wide, carrying a light civilian helicopter. It did not elaborate on the speed of the boat.

It was painted with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's call for U.S. forces to "Go back to the Bay of Pigs."

In May, Khamenei criticized the U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf region in an apparent reference to the 1961 failed invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs by 1,500 CIA-trained exiles.