Iranian Navy begins major drill

The Iranian Navy has started an eight day military exercise in the country’s southern seas to display its strength in defending Iran’s territorial waters.

The maneuver, called “Velayat 89,” will be conducted in the Sea of Oman and the strategic waterway connecting it to the Persian Gulf.

The drill which started on Wednesday will cover a large area stretching from the Strait of Hormuz to the northern Indian Ocean and has six phases.

The security of the Strait of Hormuz has global significance, as almost 40 percent of the world’s crude passes through the waterway.

Iranian Navy commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says with the maneuver, Tehran seeks to send out a message of “peace and friendship” to regional states.

Other than its main defensive objectives, the Iranian Navy also aims to explore ways of dealing with piracy.

The drill comes just weeks after another large-scale Iranian maneuver in the Persian Gulf that also pursued the same goal of promoting regional security.