Not quite...

You can use a self signed cert all you want.... But you need to add it on the iphone as a 'profile'.

In particular you should create a self signed CA, then sign the server cert with the CA, then add the CA to the iphone as a profile.

Certificates can be created for IP addresses as well, just check the cert is for IP:1.2.3.4 and not DNS:1.2.3.4, many people get this wrong and wonder why it doesn't work.

Its better to use a host name, run a DNS server and set the iphone to use that DNS server to the resolve the host name.

So it is possible to do full TLS with a verified CA in safari in a dev enivroment.