The commander of the joint drill, codenamed Zolfaqar-99, said the main stage of the exercise will begin today (Thursday) and continue for three days.

The war game would include forces from the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, and Air Defense, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said, noting that the drill zone covers an area of 2 million square kilometers in eastern parts of the Strait of Hormuz, Makran Coast, Sea of Oman, and northern parts of the Indian Ocean, down to the 10-degrees latitude.

He also noted that a broad range of vessels, submarines, aircraft and new weapons will be utilized in the war game, including ‘Fateh’ homegrown submarine.

The Army forces will practice offense and defense tactics in the drill, the commander said, adding that a long-range drone, called Simorgh, would carry out patrol and reconnaissance operations and engage in combat against hostile vessels by dropping smart bombs with pinpoint accuracy.

He said the purpose of the exercise is to ensure security of regional waters and international shipping routes. “Security in West Asia and its vital and strategic waterways requires indigenization of security with constructive cooperation from all regional countries and prevention of foreign presence in regional waters.”

With the motto of “sustainable security under defensive authority”, the war game will be launched in three different stages of ‘intelligence superiority’, ‘tactics’, and ‘display of power’, added the commander of the military exercise.

Different Army’s military equipment will be used during the event, including the powerful homegrown Fateh submarine, Sayyari said

Elsewhere, he said that providing the region and international waters with security and controlling this security are among the aims of this war game. “The security of the West Asia and its strategic waters depends on the localization of the security and constructive cooperation between all regional countries and not allowing transregional forces’ being present in the regional waters; in the past four decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has pursued this purpose by relying on internal capabilities and using young and committed forces.”

“The enemies of the Islamic Republic should know that in case they commit any strategic mistake, the geography of battle and the stage of Iran’s response to their measures will not be limited to the West Asian region and they will face a vast field of battle.”

Commander of Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters Major General Gholam Ali Rashid made the remarks among the army commanders in the area of ‘Zolfaghar 99’ military exercise, which will be held on the Makran coasts.

Referring to the capabilities and combat readiness of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Gen. Rashid said, “After 40 years and facing the security crises of the beginning of the Islamic Revolution and then eight years of the Imposed War, Iran’s Army has the power and ability to prepare combat very well to respond to threats.”

“The greatest achievement of the experience of the Holy Defense for the Iranian nation and the armed forces is the need for defense readiness and the use of military force to respond powerfully to threats,” he added.

“During the Imposed War, we have got familiar with the components of power and the ways how to use them, so we hope that the enemies would refrain from testing the will and power of Army and IRGC,” he stressed.