TEHRAN, Aug 21: Iran has launched its first military exercise since the end of its 12-day war with Israel, with navy vessels launching missiles at targets in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean.
The ‘Sustainable Power 1404’ exercise comes as Iran aims to project strength after a war that saw Israel destroy air defense systems and bomb nuclear facilities. The navy, estimated to have around 18,000 personnel, patrols the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean, and the Caspian Sea, leaving the Persian Gulf and its Strait of Hormuz to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Iran has increasingly insisted that it is ready to counter any future Israeli attack. Defense Minister Brig Gen Aziz Nasirzadeh stated that the country has equipped its forces with new missiles in response to potential enemy adventurism. Iran has suspended its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has been monitoring its nuclear sites as Tehran enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels amid tensions.
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the European parties to Iran’s nuclear deal, have warned that if Tehran doesn’t reach a satisfactory solution to its dispute with the IAEA by August 31, they will trigger a “snapback” reimposition of all United Nations sanctions on it previously lifted by the accord. Analysts warn that renewed UN sanctions could further weaken the country’s ailing economy. (AP)
