Iran's War Games

[Jag]

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Descripti...&Cat=2&Num=015

November 2, 2006 Iran begins model defense exercises in Persian Gulf today

TEHRAN -- Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Brigadier General Yahya Rahim Safavi announced here on Wednesday that a 10-day war game will start today in 14 provinces with a focus on the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea.


“The ground, air, and naval forces of the Revolutionary Guards and Basij (volunteer) forces will conduct a war game codenamed the Great Prophet (S) 2 with a focus on the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea,” Safavi told reporters at a news conference.

The Iranian-made Shahab-3 is to be test-fired for the first time during a maneuver.

The main goal of staging the maneuver is to demonstrate the country’s military power and national determination and to practice defending the country against any possible threat, he said.

“Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles with cluster warheads and a range of over 1,000 kilometers, the Fateh 110, and the Zolfaqar 103 will be test-fired as well as hundreds of rockets and other missiles with ranges over 150 kilometers,” Safavi explained.

“The (second) Great Prophet (S) military exercise is no threat to the region and neighboring states because we seek to establish peace in the region. The security of the region and the Persian Gulf can only be maintained with the participation of regional states,” he said.

“For the Islamic Republic, neighbors are our friends, and the enemies of our neighbors are regarded as our enemies,” he added.

Through the maneuver, the IRGC intends to demonstrate that Iran is prepared to defend itself against any threat or invasion by foreign states, Safavi stressed.

The ongoing war game conducted by the United States and certain Arab and Western states in the Persian Gulf is “a propaganda and political maneuver with no military value”, he observed.

A U.S.-led naval force comprising warships from Australia, Bahrain, France, Italy, and Britain launched maneuvers on Monday in the Persian Gulf, purportedly as a deterrent to weapons proliferation.
Iran conducted its longest nationwide war game, the Blow of Zolfaqar, in August. The first Great Prophet (S) war game was held in April.

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[Jag]

Iran fires unarmed missiles

POSTED: 4:05 a.m. EST, November 2, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired missiles able to carry cluster warheads at the start of 10 days of military maneuvers on Thursday, state television said.

Tehran had said the maneuvers, which will last until November 11 and include drills in the Gulf and Sea of Oman, would be a show of "defensive strength".

Tensions between Iran and western powers are high as the latter try to agree a draft U.N. sanctions resolution aimed at forcing Tehran to scale back atomic work they fear may be used to make bombs. Iran says its aims are purely peaceful.

"Dozens of missiles were fired including Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles. The missiles had ranges from 300 km up to 2,000 km," Iranian state television reported, without showing any footage.

A reporter for state-owned Arabic-language Al-Alam television earlier told Reuters from central Iran, near where he said the missiles were fired, that Shahab-3 missiles could carry cluster warheads. State television confirmed this.

"Iranian experts have made some changes to Shahab-3 missiles installing cluster warheads in them with the capacity to carry 1,400 bombs," state television said. It did not say whether the unarmed missiles fired were carrying warheads at the time.

Experts say Iran's Shahab-3 missiles have a maximum range of some 2,000 km, making them capable of hitting Israel as well as U.S. military bases in the Gulf. They say the Shahab-2 missile has a range of up to 700 km.

Iran's maneuvers follow U.S.-led naval exercises involving 25 nations in the Gulf on Monday to train forces to block the transport of weapons of mass destruction and related equipment.

U.S. officials accuse Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, of planning to equip its missiles with nuclear warheads. Iran denies the charge, saying its nuclear program is aimed at making electricity not bombs.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, had said before the war games ground, air and naval forces, including submarines, would take part in drills dubbed "The Greatest Prophet", mainly in the Gulf and Sea of Oman.

The Revolutionary Guards, the ideologically driven wing of the armed forces which has a separate command structure from the regular military, held war games in the Gulf in April in which they tested new missiles, torpedoes and other equipment.

Analysts interpreted those exercises as a thinly veiled threat that Iran could disrupt vital oil shipping lanes if pushed by an escalation in the dispute over the country's nuclear program.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/...eref=rss_world

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