Iran will deploy warships to the Atlantic Ocean early this year in an operation expected to take five months, a top commander said on Friday, January 4.

The Iranian Navy fleet will enter the Atlantic in March, deputy Navy commander Rear Admiral Touraj Hasnai Moqaddam said in an interview with state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

“The Atlantic Ocean is a long route, and it is likely that this Iranian mission would take five months to complete,” he said.

The deployment is likely to draw the ire of the United States, which has clashed with Iran over the presence of American warships in the Persian Gulf.

The fleet will include Iran’s newest frigate, the indigenously-built Moudge-class Sahand. The 1,300-ton Sahand, Iran’s most advanced domestic destroyer to date, entered service with the Navy at the southern port of Bandar Abbas on December 1.

The destroyer is outfitted with anti-ship cruise missiles and features radar-evading capabilities and an electronic warfare system, according to the navy.

Islamic Republic of Iran Navy commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi has previously said Iranian ships would be deployed to the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.