“Velayat 3 drills will be staged in winter and in the 10-degree latitude and we will cooperate with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy in these exercises,” Sayyari said.
He added that the Iranian Navy has also held joint naval drills with different countries, including Oman, Pakistan and China.
Sayyari underscored the Iranian Naval forces' readiness to confront any threats, and said, “we are so capable of establishing security in the seas.”
“At present, we monitor all vessels in the region and have exact information on their sailing path and know when they enter a port and when they leave it,” he added.
His remarks came after the Chinese forces sailing on the fleet of warships that docked in Iran's Southern port city of Bandar Abbas practiced joint naval exercises with their Iranian counterparts in the Persian Gulf last month. It was the first time that a Chinese flotilla had sailed and berthed in Iran's territorial waters.
During the drills, the two sides practiced exchange of information and intelligence, relief and rescue operations and operational capabilities and power.
Rear Admial Hossein Azad, a top-ranking Iranian Navy Commander, said boosting technical capabilities, expansion of naval interaction between the two countries, exercising maritime relief operation as well as getting prepared to deal with maritime disasters were among the major goals of the maneuvers.
The message of the joint drills was peace and security in the light of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the commander said.
He said that the drills were organized by Iranian Ambassador in Beijing and Iran's Military Attaché to the country.
Source: FNA
