Mouab Breaking News
Iran, Tuesday (11/10), began a massive two-day air defense exercise in the country’s central desert, the Islamic Republic’s latest show of strength.
Iranian state television reported that the air divisions of the armed forces and the paramilitary forces of the Revolutionary Guards participated in the annual exercise dubbed Velayat.
Iran regularly holds such exercises to evaluate combat readiness and demonstrate the country’s military capabilities.
Earlier in October, Iran held exercises near its border with Azerbaijan, to showcase its military capabilities near its neighbors who forge increasingly close ties with the West and Israel.
Azerbaijan and Israel have strengthened their military alliance in recent months. A number of drones (drone) Israeli-supplied high-tech technology helped Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh last year.
The Middle East region is still in a state of tension due to Iran’s escalating nuclear program. Talks in Vienna to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have been stalled since June, with no certainty as to when it will restart.
The 2015 nuclear deal required Tehran to drastically limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. However, in 2018, President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the treaty, raising tensions in the wider Middle East and triggering a series of attacks and incidents.
Due to the breakdown of the Vienna talks, Iran violated the limits set by the nuclear deal and enriched a small amount of its uranium to levels close to nuclear weapons capability. However, Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. [ab/uh]
