Iran has been conducting a series of massive war-drills meant to demonstrate the Islamic Republic’s "supremacy" and show Western forces that the country is prepared to attack forces stationed in the Persian Gulf region, according to Iranian military leaders and reports in the country’s state-run media.
The war drills, which began on Sunday in southeastern Iran and continued into Monday, include ground and air forces as well as unmanned drones.
The war games coincided with the public release by Iran of a new unmanned drone, the latest in a series of such aircraft publicly flown by Tehran in recent months.
Iran military leaders warned the United States against taking any provocative action in the region and promised a swift military response, according to comments over the weekend as the war drills began.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran's military forces enjoy supremacy over the Persian Gulf region more than any other time," Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri, the deputy chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces, was quoted as saying over the weekend. "The military and security conditions of the Persian Gulf are in a way that the enemy's forces and equipment are fully within the range of the Iranian military men."
The war drills, which are expected to carry on into Wednesday, also included the introduction of a new jamming system that Iran claims is capable of bringing down enemy drones. Iran also displayed several precision missiles and helicopters armed with heavy ammunition.
Iranian forces fired "several rockets" at two targets stationed in the Sea of Oman, according to the country’s state-controlled press.
Meanwhile, Iranian leaders have accused the United States of launching a new hacking operation on Tehran’s infrastructure.
"At present, the US has launched a project named Nitro Zeus with the aim of attacking Iran's defense and telecommunication infrastructures," Alireza Karimi, a member of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, was quoted as saying on Monday.
"Based on studies that we have carried out, the project is assessed to be much more dangerous than the Stuxnet project," Karimi was reported as saying, referring to a joint U.S.-Israeli cyber effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear network.