 |
Iran Wraps up Military Drills in Persian Gulf
Iranian military forces on Tuesday wound up three-day war games in the Persian Gulf port city of Bushehr, in southern Bushehr Province, Tehran Radio reported.
The maneuvers, code named "Shahamat-80" (Courage-80), were carried out in an area of some 14,000 square kilometers.
State television earlier showed that missile launcher vessels, and armor and personnel carriers, along with hundreds of commandos, frogmen and parachutists from the navy forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Basij Forces (mobilization volunteers forces) were participating in the games.
The Basij is a paramilitary voluntary force under the supervision of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Admiral Ali Razmjou, spokesman for the maneuvers, was quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency as saying that unmanned planes carried out mission during the drills for the first time in Iran.
The games aim to boost coordination between different units of the Basij Forces, the IRGC and its navy, Razmjou has said earlier.
New arms and equipment projected by the IRGC were tested in the games, Razmjou said, adding "the maneuvers proved that Iran is well-equipped and enjoys a high defensive capability with respect to its borders and territorial waters in the Persian Gulf."
Iran holds some 40 maneuvers every year in the southern Persian Gulf waters and the Gulf of Oman.
The regional giant embarked on an ambitious arms program after its 1980-88 war with neighboring Iraq.
The Islamic republic has successfully test-fired a number of missiles, including the Shahab-3 with a range of 1,300 kilometers
In This Section
|