Iranian Commander Calls US Recent Exercises in Persian Gulf “A Failure”

US officials intend to repeat their navy drills in the Persian Gulf, while the country’s recent exercises in the same waters were a failure, Iranian Army Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi said on Tuesday.

The United States and a number of its allies started their so-called International Minesweeping Exercise 2013 in the Persian Gulf. The maneuvers known by the acronym INCMEX-2013 are being directed by the Pentagon.

The military exercises are the second of their kind in less than a year, with the United States and its allies performing INCMEX 2012 last September.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a minesweeping operation staged by the Iranian Army’s naval force in Iran’s Southern waters today, Salehi described the move as “a failure”.

“Americans have staged the exercises using all their possibilities, claiming that 30 other states have joined them, but these exercises were not successful and the said countries did not take part in the drills as we observed,” Salehi said.

“Therefore” he said “they (Americans) are after repeating the exercises.”