Many of the boats in question are modified commercial or even recreational vessels. A number, however, were purpose-built for military use. They operate at high speed, have shallow drafts, low radar signatures, and good maneuverability.

No one knows how many of these vessels there are. Some estimates are in the thousands. What we know for sure, though, is that hundreds of them have appeared at a time in recent weeks in the Persian Gulf.

These attack boats are armed with heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, anti-ship missiles, shoulder-fired missiles, and sometimes mines or explosive charges for suicide-style attacks. Some carry drones or serve as motherships for unmanned explosive boats. Often their attacks are coordinated with shore-based missiles, drones, and larger patrol boats. They can operate in large swarms numbering in the dozens or even hundreds that launch attacks from multiple directions.

“The IRGC navy works more like a guerrilla force at sea,” says Saeid Golkar, an expert on the Guards and a political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “It is focused on asymmetrical warfare, especially in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. “So instead of relying on big warships and classic naval battles, it depends on hit-and-run attacks.”

These boats are based in camouflaged sites onshore. The boats are often too small to appear on satellite images, and they are moored at piers within deep caves excavated along the rocky coastline, ready to be deployed in minutes, analysts say.

t is believed that Iran has constructed at least 10 well-hidden, fortified bases for attack boats. One, Farur, is the center of operations for the naval special forces, whose equipment is modeled on their U.S. counterparts.

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