Iran flexes military muscle amid nuclear stanIran flexes military muscle amid nuclear standoff
Monday, April 03, 2006
LONDON, April 3 - Iran on Monday extolled its military prowess as it held large scale war games in the Persian Gulf, warning the West not to "play with fire" at a time of mounting tensions over its nuclear program, AFP reported.
The Islamic republic said it would test later Monday a "powerful" torpedo developed by its elite ideological army, the Revolutionary Guards, after the successful firing of a high speed underwater missile at the weekend.
The maneuvers, which Iran says were planned long before, coincides with a critical phase in the dispute over its nuclear ambitions, which the United States alleges is cover for a weapons program. Tehran denies the charges.
"After weeks of psychological warfare (over the nuclear issue), they (the West) expected that we back down and give up our rights," the head of Iran's Islamist militia, the Basij, General Mohammad Hejazi said on state television.
"Not only we did not do that, but we showed our capabilities by these maneuvers," he boasted.
"The security of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea is everybody's interest; our economic interests depend on the Persian Gulf as the world energy supply depends on this region," Hejazi said.
But he added that "if the region is not to be safe, the ones responsible for it will pay a high price... The enemies must know they should not be playing with fire".
On the maneuvers' first day, Friday, Iran said it had tested a new missile, which can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads.
The high-speed underwater missile successfully launched on Saturday was capable of destroying large warships and submarines.
The spokesman for the weeklong military exercise said more missiles would be test-fired within days and that Iranians would have "important news that will make them proud", without specifying what type of missiles would be launched.
"One of the messages of the war games for the enemies is that if they slightly violate the Islamic republic's interests in the Persian Gulf, we will firmly confront them," Rear Admiral Mohammad Ebrahim Dehqani was quoted as saying.
"These maneuvers have worried the American and British forces in the region and they are on alert," he added.
A vital corridor for the world's oil supplies, the Persian Gulf is where the US Navy's 5th Fleet is based, in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain.
Iran already has medium-range Shahab-3 missiles with the capability of 2,000 kilometers (1,280 miles), able of hitting arch-enemy Israel and US bases across the Middle East.
Iran regularly carries out war games and the officials say the one currently held in the southern waters had been planned long ago.
Iran holds the northern side of the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow neck in the Persian Gulf through which two fifths of the world's traded oil passes.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States remained committed to pursuing a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear crisis but refused to rule out military action if Iran refuses to bow to international pressure.
The UN Security Council late Wednesday unanimously approved a non-binding statement giving Iran 30 days to abandon sensitive uranium enrichment activities, which Iran promptly refused to comply with.
Thousands of Iranian troops are conducting the war games, which involve the Revolutionary Guards Corps navy and air force, Iran's regular army and navy, the volunteer Basij militia, and the Iranian police.
They kicked off last Friday and are due to run until Thursday.