The drill will be Iran's
latest show of strength in the face of mounting international criticism over
its controversial nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at producing
atomic weapons — charges that Tehran denies, insisting the program is for
peaceful purposes only.
The Strait of Hormuz is of
strategic significance as the passageway for about a third of the world's oil
tanker traffic. Beyond it lie vast bodies of water, including the Arabian Sea
and the Gulf of Aden. The US Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet is also active in
the area, as are warships of several other countries that patrol for pirates
there.
Both the US and Israel have
not ruled out a military option against Iran over its nuclear program, while
Iranian hard-liners have come out with occasional threats that Tehran would
seal off the key waterway if the US or Israel moved against the country's
nuclear facilities.
Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told
Iranian state TV that the maneuvers, dubbed Velayat-90, will begin Saturday, He
said they will be held in a 2,000-km stretch of sea off the southern edge of
the Arabian Peninsula and into the Gulf of Aden, near the entrance to the Red
Sea.
Iran regularly holds war
games and has also been active in fighting piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
Sayyari denied an Iranian
media report from last week that the drill would close the Strait of Hormuz.
"There has been no decision yet on this," he was quoted as saying by
the official IRNA news agency.
However, he stressed that
Iran's Navy and the Revolutionary Guards have the capability to close the
strait but that "any decision on this will have to come from the
leader," referring to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sayyari said the Iranian Navy
would use submarines, warships, missiles and torpedoes as well as unmanned
planes during the drill but that it would take place "within the framework
of international norms."
Meanwhile, Britain's foreign
secretary said Thursday that Iran had blocked access to a British government
website aimed at Iranian audiences in a new act of aggression against the UK.
William Hague claimed that
the website — the online presence of Britain's now shuttered embassy in Tehran
— had been deliberately targeted by the Iranian regime.
The decision to disrupt
access to the site follows the violent storming of Britain's Embassy by
demonstrators last month, when a mob trashed rooms, damaged furniture, scrawled
graffiti and tore up a portrait of Queen Victoria, as staff took shelter.
The British website contained
information for Iranians hoping to visit Britain and details on UK government
policies. Those trying to access the pages are now directed to a list of
Iranian government approved websites, including Iran's English-language Press
TV.
