NICOSIA — Iran has launched another major military exercise.
Iranian state television said a three-day exercise by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps began on Sunday, Middle East Newsline reported. The television said the exercise
took place in Garmsar south of Teheran and included the firing of
indigenous short-range missiles.
"The elite Revolutionary Guards plans to begin a three-day missile
maneuver on Sunday near Garmsar city," the television said. "Zalzal and
Fajr-5 missiles will be test-fired in the exercise."
The Fajr-5 was supplied to Hizbullah for the war against Israel in
mid-2006. Hizbullah was believed to have fired at least one Fajr-5 toward
Israel during the 34-day conflict. The Zalzal, with a range of about 100
kilometers, is a solid-fuel missile that was also fired in the Hizbullah
war.
Over the last year, Iran staged three major military exercises. The last
exercise took place in November 2006, when a range of indigenous missiles,
including the intermediate-range Shihab-3, were fired in the Gulf.
The latest Iranian exercise followed a U.S. military announcement that
two aircraft carrier groups would be stationed in the Gulf. The Bush
administration said it would also send a PAC-3 missile defense system to an
unidentified Gulf Arab state.
