Iran to Hold Exercise in Atlantic Ocean

23.11.2012 Iran will carry out a naval exercise off its southeast coast; the maneuvers are scheduled in Jan 2013, said Iranian Navy Commander RADM Habibollah Sayyari.

In addition, Iran will deploy its naval assets to the Atlantic Ocean with the view to demonstrate its combat capability, said the admiral.

Sayyari declared in Sept 2012 that Iranian Navy would expand its presence in international waters in order to protect Tehran's interests, reports REGNUM.

Earlier on, Iranian armed forces successfully tested a new air defense system based on American Hawk. The trials were held on the second day of the large-scale air defense exercise in Nov 2012. Overall exercise area was 850,000 sq km, which makes almost half of the country's territory. Reportedly, fighter jets, UAVs, air defense systems and 8,000 servicemen including personnel of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were involved in the one-week long exercise.

According to Iran's chief of air defense staff Gen. Farzad Esmaili, "during the exercise we practice elements of present-day tactics with due regard to threats in certain regions worldwide".