Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to hold new exercises in Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Army soldiers stand guard on a military speed boat during the ‘Velayat-90’ navy exercises in the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran on December 28, 2011.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards will hold new naval exercises in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in February, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) will soon stage its most massive naval exercises in Iran's Southern waters in the near future, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi announced.
The news comes just two days after Iran wrapped up its 10-day Naval drills in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, during which it threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the West imposed sanctions on its own oil exports.
(GlobalPost reports: Strait of Hormuz: War of words over Iran oil blockade threats; EU ban on Iran oil could be final blow to country's economy)
The threat unsettled the already jittery world oil market, as one-sixth of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the Associated Press reported. Fars claims the figure is 40 percent.
(GlobalPost reports: Oil prices rise again on Iran worries)
Citing Fars, the AP quoted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's naval commander, Adm. Ali Fadavi, as saying late Thursday that the upcoming exercise would be a continuation of a annual drill called "The Great Prophet."
Fadavi said the next round of war games would be "different" from previous ones. He did not elaborate. The admiral said the drill would take place in the Iranian month of Bahman, which roughly corresponds to February.
Meanwhile, former CIA Director Michael Hayden told Fox News this week that Iran would remain the world's top threat in 2012.
"It is the single greatest destabilizing element right now with regards to global security," Hayden reportedly said. "Of all the things that I left, when I was in government, the situation with Iran, and particularly their nuclear program has continued on a trajectory that gets darker with each passing day, week and month. They seem on this inexorable arc in the direction of a nuclear capability and there seems to be nothing that we or other like minded nations can do that will stop them."