Iran Plans Air Force Drills for Ramadan

By The Media Line Staff

Iran's air force is planning military maneuvers during the month of Ramadan to prepare for any future attacks from the United States or Israel on the country's nuclear facilities, Iran's chief of staff said.

Brig.-Gen. 'Atallah 'Salihi said the country had made major strides in boosting its air defenses over the past two years, and said he hoped the air force would be able to present the people with locally manufactured aircraft during the upcoming year, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.

Analysts estimate that a large portion of Iran's military aircraft is in poor condition. Since 2002 there have been at least nine fatal air crashes of both commercial and military aircraft, with as many as 302 killed in a single flight, and a combined death toll of nearly 700.

This is partly due to the fact that Iran has been subjected to sanctions for the better part of 30 years, and the country does not have easy access to aviation safety equipment.

The announcement of new air force drills underlines the heightened tension in the Gulf region. Both Iran and the United States have been conducting military exercises in the Gulf area, prompting speculation they are preparing for a military showdown.

Tehran is under international pressure over its controversial nuclear program, which Western countries fear is being used to secretly manufacture a nuclear bomb.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for the peaceful purposes of creating energy and upholds its right to possess nuclear technology.

The country is close to completing a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bushehr, which is being constructed with Russian assistance and is planned to be operative by the beginning of next year. Iran has also announced plans to build a second power plant in Darkhoin.

There has recently been an exchange of verbal threats between Iran on the one side and the U.S. and Israel on the other, in what could catalyze a military showdown.

Iran has threatened to shut down strategic waterways in the Gulf, consequently cutting off major supplies of oil and energy from the Gulf to the West as a response to any attack on its soil.

Meanwhile, tension is also building between Iran and its neighbors in the Gulf over media coverage of Iranian affairs. Iran has withdrawn the credentials of the Tehran bureau chief of the Saudi-owned Al-'Arabiyya from the country, labeling him a persona non grata, according to a decision made by Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry.

Iran says the popular pan-Arab TV news channel, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, does not give fair and balanced coverage of events in the country and Tehran has found some of the channel's reporting offensive.


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