IRGC Drones, Missiles Fired at Mock Enemy Bases
Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps (IRGC) began its military drill called ‘Great Prophet 7’, by firing indigenously made missiles at hypothetical enemy bases.
IRGC’s long, medium and short-range missiles targeted ‘simulations of the transregional forces’ airbases’ in the central province of Semnan, Press TV reported.
The domestically-produced missiles included Shahab (Meteor) 1, 2, 3, Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), Tondar (Lightning), Fateh (Victor) and Zelzal (Quake) as well as Qiam (Uprising).
The IRGC launched the missile drill in Semnan by deploying the missiles.
The IRGC Aerospace Force started massive missile war games by firing tens of short-, mid- and long-range missiles from bases across the country at a single target in central Iran.
The move was part of the main phase of the massive missile war games, codenamed ‘Payambar-e Azam 7’ (Great Prophet 7), held throughout Iran.
The unmanned aerial vehicles of the IRGC also successfully bombarded the mock bases of trans-regional forces during the drill in the south of Iran’s Lut Desert.
IRGC bomber drones also hit designated targets in the Lut Desert.
Deputy Commander of the IRGC Brigadier General Hussein Salami said the Great Prophet 7 missile drill is a ‘firm response’ to the threats of a military option against the Islamic Republic.
“The main aim of this drill is to demonstrate the Iranian nation’s political resolve to defend [its] vital values and national interests,” Brigadier General Salami said.
In February, the IRGC conducted a military exercise named Val Fajr in Markazi (central) Desert days after the Army’s air forces ended the four-day exercise, Tharallah, near the strategic Persian Gulf region.
Also in February, during the Hamiyan-e Velayat drill, the IRGC forces practiced tactical commando raid and aerial combat, launched air offensive and defensive operations and carried out heliborne and anti-heliborne operations.
In January, the IRGC Ground Forces held the Shohaday-e Vahdat military drill in the eastern province of Khorasan Razavi.
The country has repeatedly made clear that its military might is merely based on the state’s defense doctrine of deterrence, and that it poses no threat to other countries.Navy Repels Pirate Attack On Iranian Oil Tanker An attempt by pirates to hijack an Iranian oil tanker was foiled by the timely action of the Iranian Navy’s fleet of warships.
Lieutenant Commander of the Navy Rear Admiral Gholam Reza Khadem Bigham announced on Tuesday that the tanker was sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, when it came under attack, Fars News Agency reported.
After the tanker sought help, the Iranian naval forces rushed to the scene and thwarted the attack carried out by four pirate speedboats, he added.
The Iranian Navy dispatched several fleets of warships to the Gulf of Aden and North of the Indian Ocean to protect the country’s cargo ships and oil tankers against pirates.
The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen. According to UN Security Council resolutions, countries can send warships to the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters of Somalia against the pirates and even with prior notice to Somali government enter the territorial waters of that country in pursuit of Somali sea pirates. The Gulf of Aden--which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea--is an important energy corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West through the Suez Canal.
Technical Talks Open in Istanbul
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The world powers instead are pushing for an immediate end to Iran’s enriching uranium to 20 percent purity and to ship out its existing 20-percent stock and close a fortified underground enrichment facility in Fordow.
Ashton’s spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said, “The choice is Iran’s. We expect Iran to decide on whether it is willing to make the diplomacy work, to focus on reaching an agreement on concrete confidence building steps, and to address the concerns of the international community.”
Jalili: West Plotting to Undermine Regional Unity
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili said foreign powers are hatching various plots to undermine the unity and solidarity of regional nations.
“Progress and stability of the region is contingent upon vigilantly overcoming the fabricated conflicts [staged] by the foreigners such as the Kurd-Arab or the Sunni-Shiite conflicts,” Jalili said in a meeting with Nawshirwan Mustafa, the leader of the reformist Iraqi Kurdish political party Movement for Change, in Tehran on Monday.
Jalili further referred to the growing ties between Tehran and Baghdad in various sectors and said strategic bilateral cooperation will help the stability and prosperity of the region.
For his part, Mustafa also stressed the need for increasing cooperation between Iran and Iraq as two important countries in the region.
“The people and officials of the Kurdistan Region believe that their interests and benefits lie in remaining within the framework of a united and integrated Iraq,” Mustafa added.
Mustafa had earlier met Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani.
Unity Among Iraqi Groups
During the meeting, Larijani said various Iraqi groups will guarantee the country’s successful passage through the region’s ongoing sensitive situation by strengthening their unity, coherence and avoiding discord and tension.
“The current problems and woes should be settled through understanding and empathy,” he said.
He added that Iraq can turn current threats into opportunity for progress and the promotion of its regional position with the help of a strong central government in Baghdad and national unity.
Larijani said the current government in Iraq has been established on the bases of unity and cooperation among all Shiite and Sunni groups and parties.
The Majlis speaker further stated that Iran has amicable relations with all Iraqi groups and added that the Islamic Republic has always supported Iraq’s progress and development and the promotion of the country’s regional position.
Mustafa, for his part, said unity among Kurdish, Shia and Sunni groups in Iraq over the past years led to the success of the Iraqi government and nation.
He called on Iran to continue with its support for convergence and unity in Iraq.
Gas Shipments to Turkey Resume
Shipments of Iranian natural gas to Turkey have resumed after being suspended by an explosion targeting a pipeline in eastern Turkey, Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Tuesday.
Natural gas flow to Turkey resumed after repair of the damaged pipeline, he told Anatolia news agency.
The blast occurred last week in an area between villages of Hidirli and Kalender in the eastern province of Agri.
Gas shipments were halted after the blast on the pipeline, which carries 27 million cubic meters of gas a day to Turkey.
Officials did not identify who was responsible for the sabotage but Kurdish rebels fighting for a homeland were widely seen as the main suspects.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is regarded as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
Pressure, a BlowTo G5+1 Talks
From Page 1
He said if the G5+1--Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany--ignored Iran’s nuclear ‘rights and failed to bargain on equal terms’, the negotiations could lead to an ‘impasse’.
“All that can reinforce the idea that there is a desire to drag out the negotiations or prevent their success,” he said.
Commenting on the expert-level meeting between the representatives of Iran and the G5+1, Mehmanparast said Iran is fully committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its criteria for the talks is defending the country’s nuclear rights.
The meeting between the representatives of Iran and the G5+1 began in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Tuesday.
Talks between technical experts came after three previous rounds earlier this year, at a more senior political level, failed to bridge the vast gap dividing the two sides.
Iran is insisting it has a right to uranium enrichment under the NPT which must be recognized by the P5+1. It also wants western sanctions on its economy to be eased.
The P5+1 instead is pushing for an immediate end to Iran enriching uranium to 20 percent purity and to ship out its existing 20 percent stock and close a fortified underground enrichment facility in Fordow.
Mehmanparast said the P5+1’s negotiating position and the western sanctions suggested that maybe the world powers did not want to see the talks bear fruit.
“Many people are beginning to conclude that maybe there are specific goals in dragging out the talks and preventing their success. One option is that perhaps there is a link with the US (presidential) election” in November, he said.
He said the illegal sanctions contradicted the West’s affirmation that it wants to resolve the standoff diplomatically.
He reiterated his government’s message that the sanctions would not coerce it into a change of position.
Washington and some of its allies claim that Iran’s nuclear energy program includes a military component.
Iran has strongly rejected the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the NPT and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Closure of Hormuz Strait
Mehmanparast welcomed a draft bill of Majlis requiring the government to close the Strait of Hormuz to those tankers shipping crude to the countries that support sanctions against Iran, and said the government will implement the bill once it receives the approval of the legislature.
“The MPs are the nation’s representatives and they reflect the Iranian nation’s views and the Iranian nation’s public opinion about the hostile moves against the country,” he said.
On Monday the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission drafted a bill requiring the government to stop oil tankers from shipping crude through the Strait of Hormuz to countries that support sanctions against Iran.
Mehmanparast also described the oil sanctions against Iran as ‘a threat’ to the security of crude supplies, and said, “They should account for their actions and accept the consequences of such decisions which will include social and economic crises in western countries.”
He described the security of the Persian Gulf, which is one of the world’s key energy transit routes, as among Iran’s top priorities, and said, “We have sufficient ability and power to establish security in the region and security of supply and energy transit in the region.”
An EU embargo on Iranian oil went into effect on Sunday. Tehran has repeatedly cautioned that such measures will hurt talks with world powers over its nuclear program. The sanctions were meant to pressure Iran over its nuclear activities.
Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the oil-rich Persian Gulf if its nuclear program is targeted by air strikes that Israel and the United States reserve as an option.
An estimated 40 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through the waterway.
Iran has also warned that it would target the US, Israel and their interests as well in case it comes under attack by either Washington or Tel Aviv.
Warning to Afghans
Mehmanparast cautioned against the enemies’ plots to drive a wedge between Iran and neighboring Afghanistan.
The conspiracies hatched by arrogant powers in the region are aimed at creating division between Iran and Afghanistan, he said.
The official called on regional countries to be prudent and not allow certain countries to create tension in the region.
In response to a question regarding the undocumented Afghans in the country, Mehmanparast said Iran has been hosting Afghan refugees for 32 years, adding that Iran’s deep-rooted, friendly and brotherly ties with Afghanistan is a matter of concern for some countries.
Mehmanparast said the Islamic Republic has done its best to support Afghan residents in Iran.
Last week, Afghanistan’s charge d’affairés, Shah Mardanqol, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to receive Iran’s official protest on the media hype in Afghanistan regarding the murder of a young Iranian girl by an Afghan refugee in the central Iranian province of Yazd and the Islamic Republic’s treatment of illegal Afghan refugees residing in the country.
Head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Afghanistan Department Mohsen Pak-Aein condemned the murder of the young Iranian girl and said Afghan refugees in Iran needed to abide by the law.
Pak-Aein also criticized the remarks by certain local Afghan voices over Iran’s judicial measures against such crimes.
Felicitation
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi in a message on Tuesday congratulated Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Bonifaiso Ali on the country’s National Day.