Shihab-3 missile launch (archive photo: AFP)
Photo: AFP
Iran’s Guards to hold war games in Gulf, reports say
Missile units of Revolutionary Guard’s naval and air forces to hold two days of military exercises that will focus on launching missiles, Islamic Republic news agencies say
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards will hold two days of war games in the Gulf and Sea of Oman this week, focusing on launching missiles, Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday.
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The announcement follows mounting tension with the United States, which has said it will step up pressure on Iran. This has included dispatching a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, a major shipping lane for oil exports.
The exercises will be staged on Wednesday and Thursday by the missile units of the Guards’ naval and air forces, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing a Guards source.
The maneuvers will “focus on exercises for launching missiles”, Iran’s student news agency ISNA said.
'No match for US military'
The Revolutionary Guards is an ideological wing of the Islamic Republic’s armed forces and has a separate command structure to the regular military. Iran’s previous exercises in the region have widely been seen as a show of military capacity.
Fars news agency said the maneuvers would strengthen “defensive ability.”
Military experts say Iranian forces are no technological match for the US military but could still cause havoc in the Gulf and the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a choke point through which two fifths of the world’s traded oil passes.
The United States is at loggerheads with Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at building an atomic bomb, despite Tehran’s denials.
Washington has said it wants diplomacy to resolve the standoff but has not ruled out force if that fails.
