Iran's Thondar missile boats

China reportedly sold Iran between 10 and 40 Houdong missile boats, officially named Thondar in Iranian service and possibly more than 80 C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles during the mid-1990s. In November 1996, Iran conducted land, sea and air war games in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and successfully test-fired a C-802 anti-ship cruise missile from one of its Houdong patrol boats. The United States sought to pressure China over these sales and their potentially destabilizing character. The Chinese government agreed to US requests in 1998 to halt further C-802 sales. Circumventing this restriction, Iran obtained a license to produce the weapons, primarily for its Thondar missile boats.