IRAN's largest navy ship caught fire after a mysterious blast in the "engine room" and burned for 20 hours in the Gulf of Oman before sinking.

The blaze broke out onboard the British-built Kharg during a training mission at around 2.25am on Wednesday.

It's reported the vessel sank near the port of Jask on the Gulf of Oman.

"All efforts to save the vessel were unsuccessful and it sank," Iran's Fars news agency reported.

The entire crew managed to evacuate the ship and pictures shared on Iranian social media showed images of sailors wearing life jackets as they fled the vessel.

The ship was on fire for 20 hours as military officials battled to extinguish the flames before it finally went down.

Tehran-based defence and security expert Hossein Dalirian said "speculations about attacks on the ship are not true".

"This happened due to a technical defect in the engine room," he tweeted.

Iranian state media also suggested an electrical fire may have broken out shortly after 2am.

The military has not confirmed the cause of the blaze.

The fire occurred in the Gulf of Oman - a waterway that is connected to the Strait of Hormuz where around a fifth of the world's oil passes through.

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Iranian navy’s largest ship sank after mystery blast in ‘engine room’ & burned for 20 hours in Gulf of Oman
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