Iran Launches Military Drill Simulating Attack On US Bases
Iran on Monday began military exercises simulating an attack on a particular “alien base” in the region with a range of ballistic missiles, reported the official IRNA news agency. The exercise, titled Great Prophet-7, which will last three days, is to include the launch of “dozens of missiles”, including the Shahab 3 ballistic missile capable of hitting Israel or U.S. bases in the region, IRNA said quoting a statement by the Revolutionary Guards.
The drill is being held in the Dasht-e-Kavir, the great desert of central Iran, where “a replica of an airbase” belonging to an “external force in the region” was built, the source said. “Missiles are fired from different directions,” IRNA said.
The exercise will include the test-firing of a half-dozen types of Iranian ballistic missiles, including the short-range Shahab and Fateh 110 (200 km) missile and the Shahab-3, which is capable of hitting targets in the range of some 2,000 kilometers, the source said.
The drill is expected to verify the accuracy and effectiveness of firing these missiles, Iran said.
Iranian officials did not specify the identity of the base, whose replica would serve as the target during the maneuvers, but Iranian military officials have repeatedly threatened, in recent years, hitting U.S. bases in the Gulf and the Middle East if Iran was attacked.
Israel and the U.S. have raised several times in recent months the possibility of military strikes against Iranian nuclear sites if diplomatic efforts fail to convince Tehran to give up its controversial nuclear program.
