Dudi Cohen
Tehran continues to flex its muscles.
A senior Revolutionary Guards officer announced Saturday that Iran will be embarking on a defensive maneuver that will include the firing of various types of missiles.
The missile drill, codenamed Great Prophet 4, is scheduled to start Sunday and continue for several days, thereby taking place while Israelis mark the Jewish Year's holiest day, Yom Kippur.
The Guards' Air Force Commander, General Hossein Salami, said that the exercise's objective is to "present the will of the great Iranian nation and to safeguard its revolutionary and national aspirations."
"The exercise will continue for several days and include several phases where a number of missiles are fired simultaneously to predetermined targets," he said, adding that the drill is meant to assess "the technical abilities and development recently undertaken in respect to the Revolutionary Guards' surface-to-surface missiles."
The Revolutionary Guards are directly subordinated to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
According to the announcement made Saturday, the exercise in question is an annual drill scheduled in advance. However, the maneuver may be related to revelations over the weekend about yet another Iranian nuclear facility.
Iranian officials are expected to embark on talks with Western powers this coming Thursday, and the military drill may signal to the West that Tehran does not intend to capitulate in respect to its nuclear program.
Source: Ynet
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