Iranian Ship Sinks in Caspian Sea, Possibly Linked to Arms Shipments to Russia

A bulk carrier sailing under the Iranian flag, RONA, sank in the Caspian Sea.

The incident was reported by Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Turkmen rescue units received an SOS signal from the vessel and promptly launched a rescue operation.

Rescuers saved all 14 people on board. It was previously established that those rescued were citizens of Iran and India.

According to ASTRA, RONA regularly sailed between Iranian ports and Russia’s Astrakhan, Makhachkala and Azov. This route coincides with the main maritime corridor used for transporting Iranian arms to Russia.

This has previously been highlighted in investigative reports by CNN and The Wall Street Journal, which documented the use of the Caspian Sea as a channel for shipping ammunition and military cargo from Iran to the Russian Federation.

The bulk carrier RONA was built in 1983 and has a displacement of 2,453 tons. The vessel is 114 meters long and 13 meters wide.