• The US Navy banned alcohol consumption on naval vessels, bases and shipyards in 1914.
• As the US faced the impending threat of war, sailors needed an alternative morale boost: ice cream.
• The Navy built a fleet of ice cream barges capable of churning out hundreds of gallons daily.

In 1914, then-Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issued an order prohibiting the consumption of alcohol on any naval vessel, shipyard, or shore station.

In lieu of alcohol, sailors enduring the hardships of the sea were in need of an alternative morale booster, especially as the US faced the impending threat of World War I.

Amid wartime rationing and supply shortages, an unlikely contender emerged: ice cream.

The service began adding ice cream makers to ships prior to World War I and resorted to operating refrigerated barges to meet the needs of the massive and far-flung Pacific fleet during World War II.

• Erdoğan offered to mediate the Russia-Ukraine war, but the Kremlin declined the proposal.
• Turkey's pro-Western tilt and Ukraine support have strained the Erdoğan-Putin relationship.
• Economic woes and defense ties with Ukraine challenge Turkey-Russia partnership.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdoğan has long been eyeing the role of peacemaker in Russia's war with Ukraine.

Erdoğan most recently pursued this ambition again on Wednesday when he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ankara could help end the war, Reuters reported, citing the Turkish presidency.

The two leaders were speaking on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kazakhstan, which Putin is attending in person.

But Putin appears cool to Erdoğan's advances.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, told local media it was "impossible" for the Turkish leader to play peacemaker.

Peskov did not elaborate on the reason, but there are new cracks in Turkey and Russia's relationship as Erdoğan navigates a years-long economic crisis and a new political landscape at home after his party lost local elections earlier this year.

Putin criticized Turkey for tilting to West

Turkey is a NATO member, but it has been balancing its relations with Russia, Ukraine, and the West through the war while acknowledging Ukraine's territorial sovereignty.

"One of the main irritants for the Kremlin is Ankara's position on the war in Ukraine. While Turkish statements in support of Ukraine's territorial integrity have never been to Moscow's liking, they have not prompted a backlash," Ruslan Suleymanov, a research fellow at ADA University in Azerbaijan, wrote on Wednesday.

But Erdoğan and Putin also have a personal relationship, and both have referred to each other as a "dear friend." Erdoğan has even said he trusts Russia as much as he trusts the West.

However, "the special personal partnership between Putin and Erdoğan is deteriorating rapidly," Suleymanov wrote in his post for the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

Just last month, Putin publicly criticized Turkey by alluding to a partnership between a Turkish defense company and Ukraine.

"I would like to note that Turkey is cooperating with Ukraine in some spheres," Putin said in a meeting with global news agencies. He then alleged that Ukrainian drones were attacking gas pipelines supplying Turkey.

He also threw shade on Ankara's economic tilt to the West, saying "it seems to me that the economic bloc of the Turkish government has shifted focus to borrowing loans, attracting investment and receiving grants from Western financial institutions."

He added the warning if "this is connected to restrictions on Türkiye's trade and economic ties with Russia, the Turkish economy will lose more than it can gain."

In 2022, a Russian state-owned company transferred $20 billion to a subsidiary to build an important nuclear power plant in Turkey. A Turkish official told Bloomberg it was a goodwill gesture from Putin for Erdoğan's brokering of a deal to export gains out of Ukraine. In 2023, Russia agreed to defer Turkish payments for $600 million worth of natural gas exports.

"The Kremlin was clearly counting on Erdoğan to repay the favor upon reelection. Instead, amid difficult economic conditions at home, the Turkish president has adopted a much more pro-Western course than Moscow had anticipated," wrote Suleymanov.

Other issues standing in the way of Turkey and Russia's relationship include an F16 jet deal with the US and slowing bilateral trade due to US secondary sanctions.

Turkey also backed Sweden's bid to join NATO and joined a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland last month, which Russia did not join and called "absurd."

Ankara and Moscow are still playing nice, but Putin has repeatedly postponed a trip to Turkey that was first scheduled for February — a sign that the two countries' relationship "relationship is worsening dramatically," wrote Suleymanov, who expects the rift between the two this time to be serious and long-lasting.

• A popular TikTok suggests many women are "looking for a man in finance" who's also tall and wealthy.
• Five women who have experience dating men in finance told Business Insider what it's actually like. 
• Some found long days at demanding jobs tricky, but others found ways to make the relationships work.

Last week, I went looking for women dating men in finance.

"You want to hear our pain firsthand?" is one of the first responses I got when I posted on X, formerly Twitter, asking people to share their experiences.

If that rings a bell, you've likely been earwormed by 27-year-old content creator Megan Boni, who shot to fame in April for a 19-second video she posted on TikTok. The clip shows her singing, with vocal fry, "I'm looking for a man in finance. Trust fund. 6'5". Blue eyes."

After her video racked up over 53 million views, Boni signed a deal with a major record label and performed a remixed version of her catchphrase with electronic DJ David Guetta.

If nothing else, Boni has turned the spotlight back onto the rarefied Wall Street world of suits, ties, and Patagonia vests. The Wall Street Journal has already declared it "The Summer of the Finance Bro."

She may have also unwittingly boosted their appeal to potential suitors. The League, a dating and social networking app that says it's for "ambitious" singles, reported male users who said they work in finance received likes "10% faster than before" and increased matches since Boni's TikTok blew up.

As someone who is dating a man in finance, I'll be the first to admit that having a relationship with someone in an industry reputed for toxic workplaces isn't always as fun as it sounds. There have been date nights interrupted by an urgent work call or email, and times when I woke up at 3 a.m. to my partner getting home from the office, bleary-eyed and exhausted.

Working in finance, however, can mean many things, and the average "finance guy" in the United States is most likely far from "The Wolf of Wall Street."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the number of Americans — not just men — working in "financial activities at over 9.2 million as of May. That number includes middle- and back-office employees in operational roles like tech and marketing who are often paid in the low six figures. While still well above the nation's median salary, their compensation pales in comparison to the jobs people think of when it comes to Wall Street: investment bankers, private-equity dealmakers, and traders. Those roles can make millions of dollars a year.

Here, five women with firsthand experience dating a man in finance share their experiences. Some women spoke to Business Insider on the condition of anonymity so they could speak freely about their dating experiences. Their identities are known to BI.

Some women dating men with demanding jobs discussed the challenges, from getting stood up due to work running late and endless conversations about golf and money. Others, however, said qualities they appreciated in their finance-industry partners were their ambition and ability to pay their own way.

They're often unavailable and can be self-involved

A self-described "hopeless romantic," Cristina Vanko gravitates toward guys who are "clean cut" and professional, with a good sense of humor.

Vanko, a 35-year-old advertising art director based in NYC, has dated enough men in finance that she can now spot them from their outfits (vests and expensive watches) and how they hold conversations (charming, but never diving "too deep").

Her recent experiences include a February first date with a 37-year-old JPMorgan banker who wouldn't stop talking about his work schedule and how "unavailable" it made him.

It came off like a warning but also a test, she added, almost as if he was trying to gauge whether she'd be OK with him prioritizing work going forward.

"When you're in love with somebody, I think you could still make yourself available," she said. "My mom's a doctor. Like, you're not saving lives."

Vanko described a different romantic encounter with a guy she met up with more than once who worked in private equity.

He was open about his reluctance to commit due to work and travel. At one point, she asked him if he was seeing anyone else. She said he responded frankly: "I have a London girl. You're my American girl, and I have a girl in Berlin."

One of Vanko's longest entanglements was with a vice president at Goldman Sachs, whom she met on a dating app in 2023. Their first date was at a wine bar. From the cable-knit sweater he'd thrown on to the Rolex watch poking out from beneath his sleeve, Vanko clocked him as a "finance bro" instantly.

After a few more dates, she went on vacation to Los Angeles and returned to find he was dating someone else. Vanko said he slid back into her DMs when that relationship ended, complaining about his inability to find a partner and settle down.

Reflecting on his attitude, Vanko said, "I'm not your therapist. I'm happy to be your friend. But it got to the point that I was just like, 'You're complaining about this other girl. Weren't you trying to date me?'"

Couples need trust to feel comfortable with the long workdays

A 24-year-old based in Chicago said her fiancé, a financial analyst for the auto industry, is proof that not all men in finance are cut from the same cloth.

"He's an extremely humble person, and he just has the biggest heart," said the Chicago resident, who works in PR and communications. Because they've been a couple for eight years, she said, she knew him before his "excruciating work hours."

If she didn't know him so well, she said, she might feel "anxiety" about the lack of communication and access to his phone he typically has during long days on the job.

She said she understands why people trying to pursue relationships with men in finance might wonder: "Does this guy even like me? He's not responding to me. He doesn't want to hang out with me."

She said they've had to have "hard conversations" and set "boundaries" to ensure they prioritize each other despite their demanding careers.

Big date nights happen a handful of times a month — and always on weekends — but they try to have dinner together during the week without phones or laptops present, she said.

I asked her about the Journal's claim of a "finance bro" summer.

"What finance bro is actually having a finance bro summer?" she asked. "They don't really get a lot of time off."

Some seem obsessed with playing golf and making money

In the summer of 2023, a woman interning at a private investment management firm in Boston met a senior investment consultant on a dating app. The woman, who asked to be referred to by her middle name, Summer, is now 23 and based in Washington DC.

On paper, he fit her type — older, good-looking, and ambitious. They went on to date most of that summer.

According to Summer, he was "obsessed" with two things: golf and money. These interests were obvious from how often he brought them up in conversation and also from the miniature golf set in the apartment he repeatedly told her cost him $4,000 a month in rent.

"One time, I told him, 'You know what? I really want to go to the Hamptons,'" she said.

His response? "Well, I don't make enough money to go there. You should date someone who has more money.'" Her response? "That's not why I'm dating you. I'm dating you because I enjoy your company."

In addition to other misgivings about him, Summer said their conversations never went beyond the surface despite her efforts to dig deeper.

The relationship ended abruptly toward the end of her internship, Summer said, a week after they became exclusive.

In text messages shared with BI, Summer's former fling said they were going in two "different directions." She also said he told her he couldn't see her because he was getting shoulder surgery, which would prevent him from being intimate with her.

Looking back roughly a year later, Summer said she thinks he only saw her as "an attractive person."

"I don't think he saw me as an actual person," she added.

It can be a relief to be with someone who earns a good salary

A 25-year-old working in marketing in NYC said she's drawn to men in finance because she works in an "industry that you don't make a lot of money."

"My ex-boyfriend was literally a starving artist, and it was awful," she said. "I just wanted someone who made money and who would give me a nice lifestyle."

Not to mention, she added, "ambition is sexy."

"Someone who works hard is better than a bum," she said.

Still, dating her current partner, an investment banking analyst, since 2022 hasn't always been smooth sailing.

The work hours are tough, and there have been nights, especially in the first year of the relationship, when she'd turn up at his apartment only to be let in by his roommate and be left waiting hours for him to come home from work.

She and the investment banker are preparing to move in together. Last Sunday, she said she was left packing boxes by herself after he said he had too much work to help.

It's tough, but she said it's not like he's just ditching her to go drinking with his buddies. As she put it, it's more like he has to do his work or he "will get fired."

Overall, she feels like she "got lucky" with her boyfriend because he makes an effort to prioritize her, like working from home whenever he can manage it just to be close to her — something she knows not all bankers do.

She warned anyone dating an investment banker that it's "nice in theory and hard in practice."

"You will get canceled on," she added.

You may have to live by their schedule

A 24-year-old marketing professional in NYC was friends with a man who worked in finance for years before their relationship blossomed into something more romantic.

They dated for a year and a half, during which he worked in investment banking.

Physically, he fit Boni's TikTok to a T. "I swear to God that TikTok was made about him," she said. "Someone must have seen him on the street."

When they started dating, the marketer said she told herself, "He works a lot, but I can manage. I'll just see him when I can see him."

But endless work hours, which sometimes stretched until 4 a.m. and took over weekends, proved too much, especially as he'd routinely ditch dinners with her family or cancel date nights due to his schedule.

The marketer said her mantra became telling herself the trying schedule wouldn't last forever because many investment bankers eventually transition to easier-going roles.

But by November 2023, she said was done being "second to someone's job."

"I was like, 'Listen, man, you want to have your job, I totally respect that, but I need to have my own life,'" she recalled to BI.

In hindsight, they just weren't "meant to be," she added.

That aside, her advice to anyone in NYC taking the viral TikTok about looking for a man in finance to heart is to "widen their horizons."

"There's so much more than just the finance bros," she said.

He's been 'saving' his entire life for me

Aniesia Williams — a 43-year-old entrepreneur and chief client officer for a tech firm Epigen — had little experience dating men in finance.

But in January, Williams matched with her now-boyfriend, Dennis Morrow, on Bumble.

Williams, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, said Morrow lives about three hours away, in Charlotte. He works for Bank of America combatting fraud and moonlights as a comedian, Williams added.

She usually dated people in her sector older than 40. Morrow is 36.

From their first date, Williams said she was transparent that she was "dating to marry."

Morrow was completely on board, something that she found refreshing. "He was like, 'I have prayed, I have worked, and I have been saving for this,'" she said.

Williams said they've been conscious about planning to spend time together thanks to the distance between their cities and their busy work schedules.

But she's noticed that a benefit of his career is how well he manages his personal finances.

"This is my first relationship where I have had a man to come to me like, 'I am ready for you,'" she said.

Williams and Morrow plan to move in together in Charlotte in September. While she enjoys his financial savvy, she said his job didn't make a huge difference.

"I could have cared less," she said. "I just wanted to make sure that he was a good human."

• Linda, a retired Ohio teacher, must continue working to stay afloat.
• She and her husband, both public servants, lived modestly, but she still needs to work.
• Many retirees face similar struggles with low incomes, dwindling pensions, and Social Security withering.

Linda, 64, has worked for the last 31 years, but that doesn't mean she's done.

The retired high school teacher in Ohio, whose last name is known to BI, said her retirement isn't looking how she anticipated. Both she and her late husband were public servants, which means they didn't have high-paid careers, but she does have a pension — meaning she'll get a monthly payout in retirement. But it's not getting her as far as she'd hoped.

"We lived the modest life of two public employees just making ends meet," Linda said. "We bought a house, we struggled in debt. I'm still in debt after his death and the bills keep coming and I need to keep working."

Before her retirement, she was earning around $5,000 a month. Now, with her pension, she'll have around $3,700 a month coming in.

She's looking into part-time work and other opportunities that could keep her afloat. She wants something that will give her a "modicum of autonomy" when it comes to scheduling and said that if necessary, she'll apply for Instacart and deliver groceries. She wants to ensure she's never burdensome to her children, even in her older age.

She doesn't ever see herself being able to stop working completely; she said she would work until she could no longer physically do so.

Linda isn't alone. Many retirees or would-be-retirees aren't able to fully throw in the towel. Just over half are living on less than $30,000 a year, or expecting to work until the day they're not physically able to anymore. It's a situation that's become more pronounced in the last few years, as retirement becomes increasingly reserved for higher earners — and it might only get worse as pensions continue to wither and Social Security remains imperiled.

"I fully see myself working for the next 20-some years — if I have that many left. Whatever years I have left, I will not be enjoying the retirement life in Florida," Linda said.

A looming retirement crisis for many

Linda's retirement goals are modest: She's hoping to concoct a winning recipe where she can survive on her teacher's pension, a rolled-over government-worker retirement plan, the sale of her house, and some part-time work.

"I'm hoping that all of those ingredients piled together in a bowl will bake something that I am able to live with. I will never be wealthy. I will never be without care and without worry, but I would like to at some point get to the point where I am free to travel and supplement my income with part-time employment," she said.

Linda is one of the dwindling number of retirees who have a pension, but that comes after a career spent in low-paying public service. A Government Accountability Office report has found that older lower-income Americans have become increasingly less likely to have any retirement account balances; simultaneously, fewer low-income households have a pension. That means that the onus of retirement saving and planning have shifted onto workers, rather than employers who pay into a monthly pension benefit; for lower-income workers, who might not be able to spare savings, that can be an even more acute challenge.

Linda said she thinks teachers especially have gotten a bad rap over the last few decades. They are seen as people who just want to siphon off of the system, but she said that couldn't be further from the truth.

"Even though I had that position, I also had the low salary that went with it. And there are many things that you have to deal with in life financially," she said. "And teaching, unfortunately, is not a career choice that guarantees financial stability."

Even so, she said it was still the most uplifting and rewarding work she's ever done.

She'd also like the country to rethink conversations around Social Security and retirement benefits more broadly. Pensions have gotten in the hands of private equity, she said, potentially imperiling those guaranteed benefits. At the same time, politicians have taken aim at Social Security, suggesting potentially pushing up the retirement age and not moving to fund its coffers.

"We have to get out of this frame of mind that suggests that Social Security that people have paid into for decades is somehow an entitlement. It is a right," she said.

But, even so, Linda still feels fortunate: She has two adult sons who will always look out for her; she's even moving to be closer to one. They make good money, and she knows she has a safety net.

"There are so many in this country who are looking at retirement age and throwing up their hands and in total desperation, wondering how they're going to make it," she said. "And those are the people I really feel terrible for."

Are you struggling to retire or not experiencing the retirement you hoped for? Are you working during retirement? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

• The new Apple iPhone 16  could have a slightly improved battery, some credible rumors say.
• Apple says there will be fancy new AI features, but what about what we REALLY care about?
• My kingdom for a longer battery life!

We are still about two months away from the iPhone 16's September release, but rumors are already starting to trickle out about certain aspects of the phone's build.

Yes, the iPhone 16 lineup will have all those fancy and fun new AI ("Apple Intelligence") features that Apple is excited about. But what about the stuff that really matters? Folks, I'm worried.

As my colleague Jordan Hart reported earlier this week about what to expect for the iPhone 16, there's something new potentially going on with the battery. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst based in Taiwan who looks at Apple's supply chain, has surmised there will be a new type of steel-cased battery that will be removable to comply with European standards.

The good news is this could mean longer battery life (or the same battery life, but with a lighter battery). But a steel-cased battery instead of the current aluminum one might also mean it's more prone to getting hot — something my older phones did a lot. My iPhone 14 Pro Max is fine (for now), but with some of my older phones, I'd find myself cooling down my fingertips on the sweat of a cold drink if I was using my phone for a long time.

What to expect from the new iPhones

Before you get too excited about the potential for longer battery life — the thing we all want — it's not totally clear just how much longer we're talking. According to one report on the rumors about the new phones, the difference in how much charge the battery can store is expected to vary only slightly compared to the iPhone 15 lineup — and in the case of the 16 Plus, it may actually go down.

Look, most likely, the battery life will be slightly improved compared to an iPhone15. How much, we don't know yet.

But if you're considering buying an iPhone 16, chances are your current phone is way older, right? In the last few years, it's made more sense to hold onto a phone for more years instead of upgrading every cycle or even every two cycles (if you do upgrade every year, congrats to you and your checking account). The changes in phones have been incremental — a slightly better camera, maybe a brighter screen.

The one thing we all want, that we all crave, is much better battery life, not just a small boost. The new AI features might be cool — even more optical zoom would be — but what I really REALLY want is for my phone to last all day without needing to charge by 9 p.m.

I recently got a Series 9 Apple Watch after losing my previous Series 8. And the upgrade in battery life in the Series 9 is — I do not exaggerate — life-changing. I've had several Apple Watches and for the first time, I don't ever have to worry about it running out of charge by the end of the day.

My current phone can't make it through a busy workday without a midday charge — and if I forget to do it on a day I commute into the office I'm really in trouble for my (long) commute home at night. I've caught myself thinking, "I should get a new portable charger." Shudder.

Claim our independence from the iPhone charger

Imagine all the brain space you could claim back if you didn't have to ever worry about your phone battery. If you could just charge it overnight, wake up, use it all day long — even running Maps for a car trip as well as watching half of a four-hour YouTube video about the Disney Star Wars Hotel without your battery level sinking to 5%.

You and I could win Nobel Prizes and learn the viola with all our regained brainpower!

On this Fourth of July, I'd like you to imagine a beautiful land of freedom, the promise of independence from the charging cord. The American Experiment is about ideals and dreams — and we can dream of a world with really, really long battery life.

• Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is building a fleet capable of operations on the high seas.
• Its new missile corvettes are the most heavily armed combatant ships in its fleet.
• It also converted a container carrier into a mothership for drones and special forces.

In the last three years, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy has commissioned hundreds of new vessels. Most are newer variants of the missile, rocket, and heavy machine-gun-clad speedboats that have long formed the backbone of the IRGCN's fleet, but beginning in 2022, the IRGCN began commissioning new classes of warships capable of operating on the high seas.

The vessels, four newly designed missile-armed catamaran corvettes and a container ship converted into an expeditionary sea base, bring new capabilities to the hardline force known for carrying out dangerous missions like attaching mines to ship hulls and hijacking merchant ships, giving Iran options to keep adversaries with advanced navies and air forces like Saudi Arabia and the US off-balance.

The largest ships ever to be commissioned into its service, the vessels enable the IRGCN to operate major surface combatants with long-range anti-ship and anti-air weapons, and also helps the historically littoral force to pursue a new mission only recently given to it: to project power into the high seas via expeditionary operations.

With a fourth catamaran missile corvette on the way and another container ship being converted into a drone carrier, the IRGCN's future fleet is gaining the larger ships and firepower needed to confront its adversaries beyond the Persian Gulf.

Catamaran missile corvettes

Founded in 1985, the IRGCN is the naval branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary organization that operates as the ideological steward of Iran's revolution separate from the national military and which answers directly to Tehran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Numbering around 25,000 personnel, in 2007, the IRGCN was tasked with the security of the Persian Gulf, while Iran's national navy was given responsibility for the waters of the inland Caspian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and beyond. Responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth that dog-legs into the Persian Gulf, is shared between the two forces.

Since its inception, the IRGCN has employed an asymmetric doctrine that utilizes swarm and guerilla tactics with an emphasis on numbers, speed, mobility, and geographical advantages. They are known for provocative tactics that harass and threaten US Navy warships and civilian merchant vessels.

Operating in conjunction with Iran's land-based missiles and aircraft, the IRGCN can mount rapid sea assaults that exploit the islands and contours of Iran's coast. They rely extensively on hundreds of smaller vessels, namely fast attack craft (FAC) and fast inshore attack craft (FAIC) like those of the Tondar and Peykaap-classes which are armed with heavy machine guns, rockets, anti-ship missiles, and torpedoes to swarm enemy warships that may also be under attack from loitering munitions.

On September 5, 2022, the IRGCN diverged from its usual procurement practices when it commissioned the Shahid Soleimani, the lead ship of a new class of corvettes named after the leader of the IRGC's elite Quds Force who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020. At 213 feet long, 47 feet wide, and displacing an estimated 600 tons, it is one of the largest surface combatants the IRGCN has ever adopted.

The class utilizes a unique twin-hulled catamaran design. The design offers increased speed and stability at the expense of volume to carry more fuel or armaments. Though rare for frontline warships, some major navies do possess catamaran corvettes, including China, Russia, Taiwan, and Norway.

The IRGCN itself has been operating a single catamaran called the Shahid Nazeri since 2016. Despite being lightly armed, it has a record of harassing US vessels and civilian ships in the Persian Gulf.

But while Shahid Nazeri has few armaments, the Soleimani-class corvettes are the most heavily armed vessels in the IRGCN fleet, with an armament of 28 missiles, four 23mm Gatling guns (two in front of the bridge and two amidships), and one 30mm auto-cannon at the bow. Their formidable missile armaments are designed to threaten ships and aircraft.

Twenty-two of the missiles are stored in vertical launch systems (VLS), making the Soleimanis the first vessels in Iranian service with vertical launch capability. Believed to all house surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), they are arranged in two groups of eleven cells (eight small and three large) on the port and starboard sides just behind the bridge.

The six large cells are believed to house medium-range SAMs with a range of 92 miles each, while the sixteen small cells are believed to house short-range SAMs. Six box launchers amidships (three on each side) house anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs); likely four long-range ASCMs like the Ghadir or Noor, with ranges of 184 and 74 miles, respectively, and two short-range ASCMs like the Nasr, which has a range of 21 miles.

A helicopter deck is located just behind the box launchers and mast. Below it is a hangar reportedly large enough for three IRGCN FIACs; these fast inshore attack boats can be lowered into the water and picked up by an internal crane.

Made out of aluminum, Iranian officials have said that the ships have a range of 5,500 nautical miles. They have also said that the catamaran layout provides stability in rough seas and reduces the ships' radar cross-sections, making them harder to detect and track.

Three Soleimani-class corvettes, Shahid Soleimani, Shahid Hassan Bagheri, and Shahid Sayyad Shirazi, have been commissioned, while a fourth, Shahid Ra'is-Ali Delvari, is under construction. One month before the Hassan Bagheri and Sayyad Sirazi's commissioning last February, the IRGCN commissioned a new type of catamaran corvette, the Shahid Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

At 157 feet long, 39 feet wide, and displacing around 300 tons, it is smaller than the Shahid Soleimani-class and vastly different in appearance; it has no internal hangar capable of holding FAICs, no VLS cells, and the landing deck behind the bridge appears to be too small for helicopters, likely meaning it is intended for drones.

Its armament consists of 14 missiles; six ASCMs stored in box launchers at the stern and eight more ASCMs in two quad-tubed launchers on the port and starboard sides. It is also equipped with four 23mm Gatling guns and one 30mm auto-cannon.

Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the IRGCN, described the Shahid Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis as an "invisible boat" because of its catamaran design, and said it had a range of 2,300 miles.

Converted container ships

Though the newest, the catamaran corvettes are not the first sea-faring vessels the IRGCN has operated. The service has unofficially operated the cargo ships MV Saviz and the MV Behshad which, although officially registered as civilian vessels, are used as forward base and command ships to coordinate support for Houthi rebels in Yemen and to gather intelligence. The IRGC smuggles weapons to the Houthis and train them on their use.

In 2020, the IRGCN commissioned its first official sea-going vessel, the Shahid Roudaki. A converted roll-on/roll-off ship, the Shahid Roudaki is capable of carrying FAICs, drones, and military vehicles, and has space for a helicopter on its deck. It is armed with four ASCM box launchers and is believed to play an intelligence-gathering and support role.

Roudaki was briefly the largest ship in the IRGCN fleet until March 2023, when the Guard commissioned the Shahid Mahdavi, a converted container ship formerly known as Sarvin.

At 787 feet long and 105 feet wide, Mahdavi's role is that of an expeditionary sea base and support/mothership. Equipped with a phased array radar and capable of carrying two helicopters, drones, loitering munitions like the Shahed-136, and FAICs, Mahdavi can also be used as a base from which IRGCN special forces can be inserted, and act as an intelligence-gathering vessel.

It is often compared to the US Navy's Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary mobile bases, the lead ship of which has spent ample time in the Persian Gulf in view of Iranian forces.

Iran's navy has a similar vessel, the IRINS Makran, a forward base ship converted from an oil tanker. Commissioned in 2021, it has conducted multiple long-range voyages, including one that saw it circumnavigate the globe.

Mahdavi made international headlines in February when it launched two ballistic missiles from shipping containers placed on its deck as part of the Great Prophet 18 military exercise. Fired from the Gulf of Oman, the missiles were reported to have successfully hit mock targets in a desert in central Iran, demonstrating an at-sea launch capability for Iran's ballistic missiles.

The ship again made headlines in May when it sailed into the Southern Hemisphere, proving definitively that the IRGCN's reach now extends to the high seas.

Mahdavi will eventually be joined by another converted container ship, the Shahid Bagheri. Formerly known as the Perarin, the vessel has been undergoing conversion into a drone carrier for the IRGCN since 2021.

Measuring 787 feet long, the ship's width has been increased slightly with the addition of a cantilever deck on its port side. In 2023, a ski-jump ramp was fitted to the bow at an angle toward the starboard side in line with the cantilever deck, suggesting that wheeled drones will take off and land by avoiding the ship's towering superstructure that houses the bridge.

The makeup of Bagheri's future unmanned air wing remains a matter of speculation, and could include Shahed 171 and 191s (which are reverse-engineered Iranian copies of a captured American RQ-170 Sentinel), or Mohajer-6 and Shahed 129 drones, all of which can reportedly be used as reconnaissance and strike platforms.

The Bagheri's flight deck measures about 590 feet. The main recovery method for the drones will likely be an arrestor net or cable system of some type, though drones with short takeoff and landing ability may be able to conventionally land in calm seas.

Like the Mahdavi, Bagheri could also be used as a launch platform for loitering munitions like one-way attack drones. In addition, Rear Adm. Tangsiri has said that Bagheri will be able to store 30 FAICs below its deck.

An expanded mission

Altogether, the ships represent radical upgrades for the IRGCN — upgrades that the force has desperately wanted.

Though its asymmetric tactics and assets have successfully shot down an American drone, damaged and seized merchant ships, and taken American and British naval personnel prisoners, the last major combat engagement the IRGCN fought was a humiliating defeat for Iran, due in large part to hostile missile-equipped surface combatants and airpower.

Now sailing with large surface combatants armed with anti-air and anti-ship missiles, as well as new FIACs with better anti-ship and anti-air capabilities, the IRGCN poses a greater threat than it did in the 1980s.

"They know they are going on missions that require defense against aerial threats as well as surface threats, so they have to be prepared to defend against those threats by themselves," Farzin Nadimi, a senior defense fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told Insider.

But the IRGCN's new ships are not just intended for protecting the Persian Gulf — they are also for helping the IRGCN in its new mission: Projecting its power into the high seas.

Previously a mission reserved for Iran's national navy, this expansion of duty was ordered by Ayatollah Khamenei himself in 2020. Though no direct reason has been given for the change, Iranian officials often talk about how the ships will better secure Iran's maritime interests.

"In general, they have portrayed their new mission as protecting the safety and security of Iran's vital maritime routes," Nadimi said.

But it's more likely that the IRGCN needs high-seas capability to better support the IRGC's goal of furthering Iran's strategic interests. Iran is a rival to Israel and Saudi Arabia and arms groups across the region like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen.

While Iran's navy is involved in anti-piracy missions and international voyages to show its flag, it is the IRGC that is responsible for supporting Iran's proxy groups abroad. The Guard is also the frontline force for Iran's efforts in Syria.

In the event that its allies need supplies, the new catamaran corvettes "would be able to escort Iranian ships, tankers, or cargo ships that carry important cargoes," Nadimi said. The Mahdavi and Bagheri, converted container ships themselves, could even carry the cargo and deliver it directly.

And while the MV Saviz and MV Behshad have likely been unofficially aiding the Houthis, the fact that they are not officially Iranian military vessels exposes them to the possibility of being attacked in gray zone operations, as happened to Saviz in 2021, when a suspected Israeli limpet mine attack crippled it, causing it to be towed back to Iran.

The IRGCN's new ships, by contrast, are official vessels of the regime. "By law they are sovereign territory of Iran," Nadimi said. "They have the threat of serious escalation behind them if Israel directly attacks them."

The ships can also serve Iran's possible tactical goals as well. As a mobile sea-based ballistic missile launch platform with a long range, the Mahdavi poses a particularly potent threat. An IRGCN surface group made up of the Soleimanis, Madhavi, and Bagheri may even be able to pose a threat to US bombers based in Diego Garcia, an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

If tensions in the region continue to escalate into a direct conflict with Israel, these ships could pose a big enough threat that they could become high-priority targets for Israeli submarines operating in the Red and Arabian seas.

With Bagheri finishing construction and a fourth Soleimani-class catamaran being built, the IRGCN's fleet is only expected to get larger as it embraces its new high-seas mission.

"Our oceangoing warships can be present in every location across the world, and when we can fire missiles from them, there is accordingly no safe spot for anyone intending to create insecurity for us," Tangsiri said after the successful missile launches from Mahdavi.

Benjamin Brimelow is a freelance journalist covering international military and defense issues. He holds a master's degree in Global Affairs with a concentration in international security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His work has appeared in Business Insider and the Modern War Institute at West Point.

• Apple's former design chief, Jony Ive, revealed the creation that left a "deep" impression on him.
• Ive said Apple's first wearable product device reflects the evolution of our intimacy with tech.
• A decade later, the Apple Watch is one of the most popular wearables ever.

If you're unfamiliar with Jony Ive, odds are you might be reading this on a device he designed.

Apple's legendary former design chief has helped develop some of the company's most iconic products, including the iPhone, iPad, and Macbook.

Yet the device that might just be his favorite isn't in your hand, but it may be on your wrist — the Apple Watch.

When asked recently which Apple product left "a deep impression" on him, Ive mentioned the device.

"I'm proud of what we did with the watch because that's something that I started after Steve had passed," Ive said in a podcast episode of "Life in Seven Songs," referring to Apple's late cofounder, Steve Jobs.

Three years after Jobs' death, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch, its first wearable device and major product line since the iPad. The company then officially released the watch the following year, and it has since undergone nine generations.

Ive described the watch as "one of the most personal products" when looking at the trajectory of Apple devices.

Apple products started off "sitting on your desk, and then they ended up in your bag, and then they ended up in your pocket," he said. "And then it's on your wrist, and it's something that's worn."

The designer noted that people "have a different sort of relationship" with things they wear and "that are that intimate" — an observation that could probably explain why wearable tech is still a fickle product to get right to this day (just look to the mixed reviews of Apple's latest major product, the Vision Pro headset).

"And I've always loved watches anyway," he said. "So as a category, I think this is an interesting one."

Ive, who left Apple in 2019 after more than two decades with the company, has since started his own design firm, LoveFrom.

The Apple Watch has gone on to become a major seller for Apple, helping drive the company's wearables division to $7.9 billion in quarterly revenue in the first three months of 2024.

• A delay in US funding for Ukraine didn't result in any gains on the battlefield for Russia, per the Pentagon.
• The Ukrainians "have done a good job of holding the line," a Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday.
• Experts initially believed that Russia would take full advantage of the time lag to gain ground.

Russia wasn't able to get a leg-up in its war on Ukraine despite the delays in US funding, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"Russia continues to attempt to take ground, but the Ukrainians have done a good job of holding the line," Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a press briefing.

According to Ryder, the US took seven months "to get additional security assistance and supplemental funding for Ukraine." But the time lag didn't bolster Russia's fortunes in Ukraine.

"The Russians made an effort to try to push and take Ukrainian territory and really did not accomplish that much in terms of the amount of geography that they were able to take," Ryder added.

Russia's defense ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

Ryder's remarks on Tuesday were surprising, considering that experts initially believed US funding delays would result in a major ramp-up of Russian attacks.

In April, the House of Representatives finally approved more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine. Staunch GOP opposition delayed the bill's passage for months.

"The frontline situation will therefore likely continue to deteriorate in that time, particularly if Russian forces increase their attacks to take advantage of the limited window before the arrival of new US aid," the Institute for the Study of War said in April.

In May, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Ukraine would still be able to "hold the line" and withstand Russian attacks through 2024, per the Financial Times.

Sullivan also said he expected a Ukrainian counteroffensive to only occur in 2025.

"You can't instantly flip the switch," he said.