TEHRAN, 23 March 2007 — The Iranian navy launched military exercises in the Gulf yesterday in a display of the Islamic republic’s “power and defense capability,” the naval chief said. “During these maneuvers frigates equipped with missiles, warships, air-to-sea missiles and sea-to-air missiles are being used, as well as tactical reconnaissance submarines,” Adm. Sajad Kushaki told state television.
The exercises, code named “Power,” will run until March 30. “If the United States starts a war against Iran, it won’t be the US that finishes it,” the ISNA news agency quoted a Revolutionary Guards navy general as saying. “The Iranian people will not allow a single American soldier to set foot on their soil.”
The maneuvers come amid a continuing standoff between Tehran and world powers over Iran’s controversial nuclear program and as the UN Security Council mulls a new draft resolution to step up sanctions agreed Dec. 23. On Wednesday, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in a nationally televised speech that Iran would do whatever it could to defend itself from force or the threat of force.
“If they want to use threats, to resort to force and violence, then without a doubt the people and the authorities will use all their capabilities to strike the enemies,” he said. Iran has staged several military exercises in recent months, displaying hardware including short-, medium— and long-range missiles.
On Friday, state radio reported that the Iranian military has developed a new air defense system with a boosted ability to hit targets by firing two missiles simultaneously. Western powers fear that Iran aims to produce nuclear weapons by enriching uranium, but Tehran insists its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes.
Military experts have viewed such exercises as a show of force in the strategic waterway through which 40 percent of the world’s traded oil is shipped and say they are aimed to deter any possible US attack on the Islamic Republic. The latest war games involved small vessels with missile launchers and tactical submarines, state television said, adding that the exercises involved Iranian-made equipment.
In previous maneuvers, Iran has tested what it called advanced homemade missile systems and other weaponry. Military experts say Iran rarely gives enough details to indicate the precise capabilities of equipment put on show. They say some of Iran’s new weaponry, such as missiles, are often modified versions of imported equipment.
Although Iran may not have the technology to match that of US forces, experts say it could still cause trouble for shipping in the Gulf and disrupt crude flows, if it wanted. Alongside the regular military, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have also staged war games in the Gulf in recent months. The Guards are the ideological force of the Islamic Republic and have a separate command structure to the regular army.
