The Iranian army began conducting air defense maneuvers on Saturday in the western and northern regions of Iran, as part of exercises that will last two months and include simulating “real combat” on the battlefield.
These maneuvers come hours after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard published pictures of what it described as “Missile City,” which show large quantities of missiles stored underground.
Tasnim Agency reported that the maneuvers, called “Eqtedar 1403,” will witness “the use of locally-made air defense systems,” and will simulate “the real battlefield,” during which “exercises will be conducted to confront air and missile threats and electronic warfare.”
Reuters reported, citing official Iranian media, that these maneuvers are part of military exercises that will last two months, and began on January 4, and include maneuvers in which the Revolutionary Guard forces defend major nuclear facilities in Natanz, against mock attacks with missiles and aircraft. The march.
These war maneuvers come as Iranian leaders await the return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, where he is expected to announce the tightening of US sanctions on Iran’s oil sector through a “maximum pressure” policy.
In 2018, Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement concluded by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015, under which Iran agreed to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for easing the economic sanctions imposed on it by the United States and the United Nations.
The Iranian army said on Saturday that it was “using new missiles and drones in training,” and published footage of a new underground missile city visited by the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami.
The official Iranian news agency “IRNA” reported that Salami inspected the missile city of the Revolutionary Guard, on Saturday, and praised what he described as the “outstanding performance” in the “True Promise 1 and 2” operations, when Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel, in response to the targeting of the Iranian consulate in Syria. The assassination of the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
Regarding Iran’s missile arsenal, Salami warned in a speech broadcast on state television against a “false sense of joy” among Iran’s enemies, saying that “Iran’s missile capabilities in particular have become stronger than ever before.”
Salami added, “The enemy claims that our production capacity has stopped, but he must know that the trend of our missile capabilities is the most advanced, and our missiles are developing daily in terms of performance and design.”
Israel said that the raids it launched on Iran last October targeted its ability to produce missiles, noting that it “bombed missile manufacturing facilities.”
Last updated: January 12, 2025 – 14:14
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