Fears that another war might be on the horizon have begun to stir after it was reported that Iran has begun conducting military drills.
State television reported Thursday that the Iranian military launched its first exercises since the end of its 12-day war with Israel by sending navy vessels launching at targets at sea in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. While such drills have been deemed routine for the country, the “Sustainable Power 1404” exercise comes as authorities in Iran are trying to project strength in the wake of a war that saw Israel destroy air defense systems and bomb nuclear facilities and other sites.
According to the state TV report, naval vessels would fire cruise missiles at targets and use drones over the open water. However, no footage was available during the report.
Iran’s navy comprises some 18,000 personnel, and it apparently avoided any major attack during the June war.The navy, based in Bandar Abbas, patrols the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean, and the Caspian Sea and regularly leaves the Persian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the Strait of Hormuz, to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The Guard’s naval forces are known to seize Western vessels during the breakdown of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, as well as closely shadowing passing U.S. Navy vessels coming into the region. Since the end of the war, Iran has increasingly insisted that it is ready to counter any future Israeli attack.
“In response to any potential enemy adventurism, our forces are prepared to use these new missiles effectively,” Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh said.
Meanwhile, tensions mount on a new front after the country suspended its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been monitoring its nuclear sites. 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 Aug. 31, they will trigger a “snapback” reimposition of all United Nations sanctions on it previously lifted by the accord.
Restarting the war
A top-ranking official within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared on Sunday that another conflict with Israel or the United States could erupt at any moment. “We are not in a ceasefire, we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation or agreement has been written between us and the US or Israel,” Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told Iranian media.
Iran suffered a huge blow with the 12-day war with Israel, as the surprise attack took out a number of IRGC commanders, leaving Khamenei and his remaining agents to tighten their grip on the majority-Persian, but multiethnic, country.”I think another war may happen, and after that, there may be no more wars,” he added, according to a translation by Iran International.
“The Americans and the Zionists say they create peace through power; therefore, Iran must also become strong, because in the system of nature, the weak are trampled,” Safavi threatened. “We must strengthen our diplomatic, media, missile, drone and cyber offensive strategy. We, the military, do scenario-planning, we see the worst case, and we prepare a plan for it.”