US Coast Guard Vice-Admiral Thomas V. Barrett attended the ceremonial handover of the vessel in the Azeri capital, Baku, becoming the most senior US naval officer to visit the former Soviet republic.

US officials said the cutter would be used by Azerbaijan's maritime border guards to patrol its borders in the Caspian Sea, preventing smuggling, poaching and helping to combat terrorism.

"This programme is but one component of a broader US-Azerbaijan partnership to secure peace and stability in the region and to combat international terrorism," said US ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish.

The patrol boat, formerly known as the Point Brower and now renamed the S-201, is the fifth vessel given by the US since 2000 to help bolster Azerbaijan's tiny naval force.

The vessels are part of a package of US aid to Azerbaijan's security and law enforcement forces which in the 2003 fiscal year alone was worth about 12.5 million dollars (11 million euros).

However, Tehran is unhappy with the US assistance to Azerbaijan, complaining that it represents a military build-up against it. US President George W. Bush has designated Iran as part of an "axis of evil."

Iran is also locked in a dispute with Azerbaijan over ownership of an oil-rich corner of the Caspian Sea. An Iranian warship clashed with an Azeri oil research vessel in 2001.

But Ambassador Harnish denied any link between the aid and Iran. "The assistance to (Azerbaijan's) maritime border guards is not a threat to any third country," he told reporters at the handover ceremony.

WAR.WIRE