Provocative messages behind Iran’s Indian Ocean drills

Islam Mohamed

Tension keeps piling up in the Arab Gulf region against the background of naval drills conducted by Iran, China, and Russia in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman.

The drills started on December 27 and will last until December 30.

Russian Naval Commander, Alexander Mashinsky, said the drills aim at boosting security in the region.

Spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Defense, Wu Qian, said the drills have nothing to do with developments in the region. They do not violate international law either, he added.

The official Iranian Fars news agency quoted the Iranian deputy navy commander, rear admiral Gholamreza Tahani, said the training focuses on the ship rescue operations and shooting at specific targets.

He added that the drills are carried out over an area of 17,000 kilometers and include the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz.

Tahani noted that the drills prove that Iran cannot be isolated as a state. He revealed that his country will organize the same drills in the coming years.

The Gulf of Oman is strongly connected with the Strait of Hormuz through which a third of the world’s oil crosses on the road to international markets.

The ongoing drills between Iran, China, and Russia are viewed as a provocation to the US which started rallying the international community for the protection of the maritime movement against Iranian threats.

Iranian Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said, meanwhile, that his country would participate in ground drills with Russia.

Iranian affairs specialist, Osama al-Hatimi, cited the political significance of the drills.

Iran, he said, wants to prove that it is not isolated from the rest of the world.

“It participates in international conferences and participates in military drills,” al-Hatimi told The Reference. “This shows that the US measures against Iran had not paid off.”