TEHRAN - Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif, the spokesman for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Monday that security situation had improved in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman over the past ten months since the U.S. aircraft carrier Stennis had left the Persian Gulf.

“We witnessed a boost in security of the strategic region of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman during the past 10 months when the U.S. carrier was not in this region,” he stated.

He also said the military exercises held in the Persian Gulf on Saturday were different because they occurred at the time that Stennis entered the Persian Gulf again.

Sharif said in the maneuver different tactics were performed in water and land in proportionate to supposed threats by the enemy.
 
According to the IRGC, the war games displayed the defensive and for the first time “offensive” power of Iran.

The drills were last stage of the 12th Payambar-e Azam military exercises the first stage of which had started on December 15 in the central parts of Iran with participation of rapid reaction units, airborne units, demolition and combat units, mid-range missiles, commandos and special forces.

The drills took place on Qeshm Island and surrounding waters, just off the coast of southern Hormozgan province and in the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly one-third of the world’s oil passes through.

Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the IRGC Ground Force, told reporters on Qeshm Island that Iran’s doctrine at operational level is “offensive”.

In the military exercise, the IRGC divers boarded off the vessels near the coast of the mock enemy and dived to the coast and then started attacks and capturing the coast.

The Fars news agency said the operation was designed to capture the “main parts of the hostile country’s land and controlling its ports, docks and economic installations.”   
 
NA/PA