Iran to stage naval wargames around the Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN

Iran’s navy chief Adm. Sayari briefs media on an upcoming naval exercise. AP photo

Iran’s navy chief said yesterday his forces plan to hold a 10-day drill from tomorrow around the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, an exercise that could bring Iranian ships into proximity with U.S. Navy vessels.

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.

“Our naval drill will begin from Dec. 24 lasting 10 days covering east of Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman to the Gulf of Aden,” navy commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari was quoted as saying yesterday by the Fars news agency. “This is the first time that we are covering such large area,” he added.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Dec. 14 that closing the strait was “not on the agenda,” following a rumor that appeared to stem from a comment by an Iranian lawmaker.
But Mehmanparast had hinted that the strait, a narrow stretch along Iran’s gulf shore line, could be threatened if current rising tensions in the region ever spilled over into war. When asked if the strait will be closed as part of the impending naval drill, Sayari said, according to the ISNA news agency: “the ability to do so exists ... whether to go ahead lays with the regime’s top officials.” Oil prices spiked dramatically after the rumor about the strait’s potential closure emerged, but quickly returned to normal once the rumor was discounted. More than a third of the world’s tanker oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, making it a vital transit point. The United States maintains a naval presence in the Gulf to ensure it remains open.

 Sayari said the “newest Iranian missile torpedo system”, and “coordination between submarines and warships to confront piracy, environmental threats and terrorism,” would be featured in the new drill, dubbed Velayat-90. Tehran’s navy is tasked with defending Iranian waters east of the Strait of Hormuz, while the Islamic republic’s elite Revolutionary Guards is in charge of Iranian coast in the Gulf.

In recent years, both Iranian vessels and those of other nations have received Iranian naval escorts through the pirate-infested waters off Somalia. Sayari has previously said that Iran’s navy has escorted more than 1,300 ships and faced-off hundreds of armed clashes with pirates.

Compiled from AFP and AP stories by the Daily News staff.