Iranian army to kick off annual drills in southern regions

All four branches of the Iranian army will hold their annual exercise along the country's southern and south-eastern areas, starting on the evening of 29 December.

“The annual army exercise will be held in the Jask region, extending to the east of the Strait of Hormuz to the 10th parallel eastward to the north of the Indian Ocean,” Deputy Commander of the Army Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

The admiral said that the aims of the Zolfaghar-1401 (2022) Joint Exercise is “to increase the preparedness of the troops, which include the infantry, armoured, mechanized units of the ground forces, defence systems of the air defence force, subsurface, surface, flying vessels and rangers of the army navy with strategic fighter jets support”.

Other goals of the drills are improving the skill of conducting operations in special conditions such as contaminated environments with chemical, microbial, and nuclear materials, electronic warfare, and difficult weather conditions.

The Khatam ol-Anbia Joint Air Defense Base, which brings together forces from the army and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), will take part in the drills. The strategic bombers of the Air Force will also be deployed.

Sayyari said that "the message" of the drills is to "remind the countries in the region of the regional capacities derived from the principle of working together for peace without the need for foreigners".

"The other message is to show the ineffectiveness of arms embargoes against Iran," he added.

He stressed that "peace and security will return" to the Middle East after outsiders, "particularly the US and Britain", leave.

The IRGC barred two American cruisers from entering the Persian Gulf on 5 December. According to IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, during the incident, the IRGC deployed the missile boat Habib Rouhi, capable of firing missiles within a 300 km range.