They are crewed by 6,000 personnel who work under the Iranian flag in the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, international waters and various ports of the world.

[4] Due to the increase in the volume of imports into Iran since early 1960, many foreign-flagged vessels began to arrive in Iranian ports, which caused some concerns to the government.

By the end of 1978, with an increasing shipping volume and an expanding national economy, the fleet consisted of 42 vessels with a total capacity of 525,000 DWT.

Saeedi stepped down in July 2019, and was succeeded by Mohammad Reza Modarres Khiyabani, who had been a board member at IRISL for a number of years.

Iran planned to add 16 cargo ships to its naval fleet by mid-March 2010 to increase the total capacity to 5.8 million DWT.

Negotiations for building six 75,000 DWT Panamax bulk carriers and 10 Handymax bulk carriers with the capacity of 53,000 DWT have been finalised with Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co. (ISOICO) and SADRA shipyards respectively and if the prices are finalized, total value of contracts signed with domestic shipyards will surpass $600 million.

Over the next two decades, Iran would also need 500 new ships, including 120 oil tankers, 40 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and over 300 commercial vessels.

[14] In 2009, in a move aimed at further enhancing Iran's shipbuilding industry, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he will ban the purchase of foreign ships by Iranian organizations.

In October 2006, a new company has been established in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas to repair various types of ocean liners.

According to ISNA, the Bandar Abbas Pars Ship Repairing Company has been formed jointly by IRISL and ISOICO.

Stuart Levey, the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, explained, "Not only does IRISL facilitate the transport of cargo for U.N. designated proliferators, it also falsifies documents and uses deceptive schemes to shroud its involvement in illicit commerce IRISL's actions are part of a broader pattern of deception and fabrication that Iran uses to advance its nuclear and missile programs.