TEHERAN - Thousands of Iranian troops will on Friday start a week-long military maneuver in the Gulf to ready armed forces for warding off “threats”, a senior commander announced on state television. The commander of the navy of Revolutionary Guards Crops, Rear Admiral Mostafa Safari, did not specify the nature of the threat although the maneuver comes amid increasing tensions with the West over Tehran’s nuclear programme. | Nice of them to give our intel people warning. Smile for the cameras. |
“The Revolutionary Guards Crops navy and air force in collaboration with (Iran’s regular) army, navy, (the volunteer militia) Basij, and the Iranian police will start a maneuver from 31 March until 6 April in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman,” he said. Iran has two armed forces in which both have their own ground, naval and air force all under the command of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He added: “We hope ... We will gain the necessary and needed readiness to decisively reply to any kind of threats.” “More than 17,000 soldiers and sailors will be used, along with 1,500 different kind of vessels, in addition to the different sorts of jet fighter planes, choppers and different missiles,” he added, but did not say whether Iran will use its ballistic missiles. Iran has medium-range Shahab-3 missiles with the capability of 2,000 kilometers (1,280 miles), able of hitting arch-enemy Israel and US bases across the Middle East.
“The exercise will cover an area stretching from the northern tip of the Persian Gulf all the way to the port city of Chah-Bahar in the Sea of Oman extending 40 kilometers into the sea,” he said. |