An Iranian deputy navy chief said on Friday that the Iranian
army launched three new missiles earlier during their ongoing
military maneuver was a strong message for the United States to
cease its military drills in the Gulf region, the state radio
reported.
"I think the enemies of the Islamic Republic should stop their
hostility in the Persian Gulf, and they should not make any move
that could intensify the tensions in the region," Admiral. Sardar
Fadavi, the deputy navy chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, told
the radio.
The chief made the remarks when he was answering a question from
the radio on whether Iran's new drill was a strong response to the
previous US-led military maneuvers in the same regional, therefore
he referred to the United States clearly.
On October 29, the US-led naval forces staged a two-day maneuver
in the Gulf waters, claiming that it aimed at blocking smuggling of
nuclear weaponry material and arms proliferation.
Some hours earlier before Fadavi's comments, Iran's
Revolutionary Guards successfully fired three new models of
missiles in the ongoing military exercises in the Gulf region.
The local television footage showed the missiles were fired from
mobile launching carriers on the shore and from warships, and hit
the targets successfully.
On Thursday, Iran also tested its ballistic Shahab-3 missiles
for the first time in the military maneuvers. The medium-range
missiles could reach a range of more than 2,000 km, and can cover
Israel and the US military bases in the Mideast.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2006)
