Why a dummy?

Commander Salamander and his commenters are musing about why Iran would spend the money on a fake aircraft carrier, and then tow it to the Strait of Hormuz. It isn't as though they're rolling in dough. The boat isn't as expensive as a real carrier, but it isn't chicken feed either.

Two interesting suggestions so far are "graft" (somebody connected has a boondoggle contract) and as an obstacle in the strait. And, of course, propaganda movies for home consumption as they blow the "American" carrier to bits.

It's a dummy carrier, but it isn't obvious what lies under the fake flat top. I'm not an expert on the strait, but maybe they're laying mines with the thing. It doesn't "look like" a mine layer, so you've got some surprise there. If they were planning an imminent attack, it could also be a "fire ship" or kamikazi. I don't think they've got the drones to use it to launch a fast drone-swarm attack. (I wonder how many drones you need to overwhelm anti-aircraft measures on our modern boats. I suppose you might do some damage with hundreds of small drones too--sort of like strafing.)