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Strait partners: Iran and Oman to carry out joint naval exercises

Published time: February 20, 2012 02:00
Edited time: February 20, 2012 06:00
Iranian naval ships take part in a naval parade on the last day of the Velayat-90 war game in the Sea of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran January 3, 2012 (Reuters / Jamejamonline / Ebrahim Norouzi)

An Iranian Navy commander says his country is set to conduct naval exercises with nearby ally Oman in March. Iran looks to be on its way to major naval power status, fighting piracy and cooperating with other countries in the region.

­Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the exercises will involve joint rescue and relief operations. He expressed his country’s readiness to cooperate militarily with other countries in the region in an effort to ensure the peace and stability of the Middle East.

Iran and Oman occupy opposite shores of the Strait of Hormuz. They have already conducted two drills together, in 2009 and 2011. Last year’s included four vessels, two fighter jets and one maritime helicopter under Omani command, with four Iranian naval ships.

With Iran’s decision to cut off oil supplies to France and the United Kingdom in response to the EU’s decision to ban Iranian oil imports, the country is on the lookout for new customers for its energy sector. Iran’s First Vice President Mohammez Reza Rahimi recently visited Oman to discuss the gas trade, and back in 2009 the countries agreed to jointly develop a 200-kilometer underwater gas pipeline. In September 2011, the National Iranian Gas Export Company said Iran had reached an agreement to export gas to Oman and India.

Over the past few years, Iran’s presence in international waters has been on the rise, with vessels visiting locations as far off as the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

On Saturday the Iranian destroyer Shahid Naqdi and supply vessel Khark sailed through the Mediterranean, docking at the Syrian port of Tartus. Sayyari noted that the mission was intended to show Iran’s “might” and bring a message of “peace and friendship” to the region. The ships are set to take part in a joint training exercise with the Syrian navy.

Sayyadi’s statement prompted Israel to put its navy on alert. Tensions between the countries have been surging in the past months, with the Israeli leadership, wary of Iran’s nuclear program, reportedly considering an attack on the Islamic Republic. Last week, Israel accused Iran of being behind bombings in Tbilisi, New Delhi and Bangkok that targeted Israeli nationals. The Iranian issue is to be a main topic of discussion for US National Security advisor Tom Donilon during his visit to Israel.

But Iran’s navy has also been put to other purposes. In an effort to safeguard trade vessels and oil tankers, it has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, since November 2008.

Comments (13)

Florimonte 21.02.2012 10:14

Florimonte wrote in #8 Sorry cooks- but if that president would've never said "death to isreal" then your words would be valid, just lime his actions- because of that- he has no justification of even blowing his nose. Isrealis are in all their giving right to behave like that- If someone threatened your family you wouldn't do the sme? I hope nothing happens and that cook changes his mentality against any one- I don't want to pay for anyone elses war 
Flo rimonte wrote in #8
Sorry cooks- but if that president would've never said "death to isreal" then your words would be valid, just lime his actions- because of that- he has no justification of even blowing his nose. Isrealis are in all their giving right to behave like that- If someone threatened your family you wouldn't do the sme? I hope nothing happens and that cook changes his mentality against any one- I don't want to pay for anyone elses war 
Woo oow "Jimmy" that is what's wrong here- in fact- that is what the world should avoid- allowing ignorant comments like yours- and to " Geordiland" this is not a game. 

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Jimmy (unregistered) 21.02.2012 04:21

Florimonte wrote in #8
Sorry cooks- but if that president would've never said "death to isreal" then your words would be valid, just lime his actions- because of that- he has no justification of even blowing his nose. Isrealis are in all their giving right to behave like that- If someone threatened your family you wouldn't do the sme? I hope nothing happens and that cook changes his mentality against any one- I don't want to pay for anyone elses war    T hat President said what millions all over the world would like to actually do!!!

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Geordiland 20.02.2012 20:20

Iran is actually winning its nuclear game too, great chess-players they've always been(chess is actually known to be invented by them). Ignoring the harsh - but quite empty - rhetoric from both sides of the conflict, Iran is actually acting quite wisely and patiently here. Some years back the West was asking Iran not to enrich nuclear fuel in an industrial scale, and to send their uranium to france for enrichment (and of course not for free!). Iran was merely trying to preserve its legal right to keep an R&D level nuclear programme. The west (unlawfully) rejected that offer and now Iran has moved on, mastered the nuclear tech, developed its industry and is now enriching the Uranium in an industrial scale. Now there is no way they'd back off or could be denied the right to become an industrial-scale nuclear technology service provider. This is all resulted from the West's arrogant and bullying attitude, and their so called sanctions! Now just a question: who would a country in need of nuclear fuel go to in the future to get a better price for its nuclear fuel? Iran, France, UK, US? ... Open your eyes guys, What you are seeing here is the birth of a new player in the nuclear market arena. And Never forget that Iran was sanctioned and was treated exactly the same way when it decided to nationalise its oil industry (1951), since they were - not so coincidentally - the first nation to do so in the face of the global superpowers of those day and age (UK & Co.). :-)

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