Iran Schedules Gulf War Drills One Day Before Biden Inauguration

By Staff, Agencies 

Iran has announced military drills in the Gulf of Oman for Tuesday — the day before Joe Biden is sworn in as US president.

Army Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari told the Tasnim news agency on Monday that the drills would begin on Tuesday around the port city of Makran in eastern Baluchistan province, near the border with Pakistan.

“The main purpose of the war game is to evaluate the mobility and offense power of the rapid reaction brigades and corps and the mobile offense units of the Army Ground Force,” Gen. Heidari said.

He added that the drills would practice a “rapid and decisive response” to hostile threats and simulate major strikes on hypothetical enemy coast. 

On Saturday Iran test-fired ballistic surface-to-surface missiles, hitting a seaborne target at a range of 1,100 miles [1,800 km] across the Gulf of Oman in the Indian Ocean.

Earlier this month outgoing President Trump ordered the aircraft super-carrier USS Nimitz to remain in the region after it had been ordered to return to the US following a deployment off Somalia, south of Yemen.