Iran held high-level military exercises on Friday in a joint effort involving air, sea and ground forces, in what one top general referred to as “the war before the war” as he spoke out against the threat posed by Israel and USA.
The drills, held in the Strait of Hormuz, where about 25% of the world’s oil is transported, were dubbed “Zolfaghar-1401” and involved commandos, airborne infantry, drones, various planes and submarines, according to local reports.
The drills were held to “improve readiness to deal with foreign threats and any possible invasion,” the Middle Eastern Eye reported.
Iranian soldiers take part in an annual military exercise off the coast of the Gulf of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, in Jask, Iran, on December 30, 2022.
(Iranian Army/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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However, while Iran frequently conducts military exercises, the exercise came amid heightened tension with the West, particularly the United States and its ally Israel.
Iranian Major General Gholam Ali Rashid said the drills were held because Tehran “wants to[s] our enemies know we are ready.”
Rashid warned the US and any other nation not to support Israel and considered Jerusalem his number one threat.
Iranian soldiers take part in an annual military exercise off the coast of the Gulf of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, in Jask, Iran, on December 30, 2022.
(Iranian Army/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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“The Zionist regime is the first priority as a threat to Iran’s national security,” he told Iran’s Mizan news agency on the sidelines of Friday’s drills.
Rashid said that Israel is supposed to work in coordination with the US and threatened that any country that helps Israel could be subject to Tehran’s Quds Force, a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps allegedly responsible for operations clandestine and extraterritorial military.
“We are the war generation and we have learned war with war,” he said. “We hope that the enemy will not seek to test our will and strength because he will definitely not bear the cost.”
Iranian soldiers take part in an annual military exercise off the coast of the Gulf of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, in Jask, Iran, on December 30, 2022.
(Iranian Army/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Iran has long opposed the US Navy’s presence in the region, and there have been several clashes between the Western military, shipping companies, and Iran over oil transportation and international sanctions. .
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari reportedly told the IRNA news agency official that foreign forces in the region must leave “so that the countries of the region can establish stability and peace in their neighbourhood.”
