Teheran - Iran has started production of new home-built submarines, Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najar said Monday.

Najar told state television that the new submarine, called Ghaem, was capable of carrying and firing various torpedoes and subsurface missiles with a special operation crew onboard.

The minister said Iran has become self-sufficient in manufacturing all types of military vessels, adding however that the Islamic state would just use its military strength for safeguarding peace and security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

In the year 2000, Iran started production of its first domestically-made mini-submarines which reportedly finished in 2005.

The mini-submarines can accommodate a two-man crew and up to three divers and carry out various operations such as reconnaissance and planting mines.

Russia provided Iran in 1996 with three kilo-class diesel-electric submarines which at that time made it the only Persian Gulf state with submarines.

The Iranian submarines caused concern in the United States which considered the submarines as a threat to the strategic balance of the volatile Persian Gulf region.