Mock exercises were carried out today in The Straits of Hormuz, including attacks on a replica of an American Carrier with gunboats and missiles.
A third of all seaborne traded oil flows through The Straits of Hormuz.
The Islamic Republic sees the Persian Gulf, between Iran and the Sunni Arab states, as its own backyard and believes it has legitimacy in protecting its interests there.
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At a ceremony to mark the exercises, the commanders of the revolutionary guards and other dignitaries were present.
The staged war games was a show of force by Iran due to the rising tensions in the region.
Iran has always threatened to shut off the Straits if it felt to be under threat by hostile powers.
Ali Larijani, Iran’s parliament speaker told a news conference today: “With attention to the situation in the region, we have noticeably expanded the defense budget of the armed forces to ensure the stable security of the region”.
Reuters report: State TV footage showed a number of gunboats swarming a huge model warship and blasting it with missiles.
The “maquette of an American aircraft carrier” was built to scale and targeted with cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, according to Fars News, which is linked to the Revolutionary Guard.
The gunboats also carried out an exercise in laying mines, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.
At one point a camera from state TV panned across a banner which read “If the Americans are ready to be buried at the bottom of the waters of the Persian Gulf – so be it”, a quote from Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The memories of the 1980’s Iran-Iraq war are still fresh in the people’s minds. It was comparable to the warfare during WW1 -Europe.
