Iran will soon put into service a new mine-sweeping system in the Gulf, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari (photo) said Saturday.

The Admiral’s remarks come shortly after the United States announced plans to conduct allied mine sweeping exercises in the region.

“As Americans have declared, they plan to carry out joint mine sweeping drills with some 30 countries,” he said, adding that those measures were part of their “Iranophobia”.

“This week we will bring into operation a mine-sweeping system that we are now working on so that if trans-regional enemies make a move in the region we would be able to sweep the seabed,” Sayyari added.

Last month, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said Tehran is ready to share its mine-sweeping expertise with other countries in conducting mine-sweeping operations following “the excessive use of mines and cluster bombs by Saddam’s military forces” during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Meanwhile, Iran said on Sunday it was ready to help support the Syrian Army with training assistance, in a stark statement from an Iranian Army Official

General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, Commander of the Islamic Republic’s Army Ground Forces, was quoted as saying that Iran would not be actively involved in Army operations, but he did give an offer to train them.

“As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will provide them with the training, but won’t have any active involvement in the operations,” he said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency.

“The Syrian Army has accumulated experience during years of conflict with the Zionist regime and is able to defend itself and doesn’t need foreign assistance,” he added.

 

Source: Fars; IRNA; AFP