Iran launches air defense drill amid rising regional tensions

Iran said on Friday that it successfully carried out an air defense drill using drones designed to intercept hostile targets in an area stretching from its southwestern to southeastern coasts, amid heightened tensions in the region.

On Thursday Pakistan launched air strikes against what it said were separatist militants inside Iran in a retaliatory attack two days after Tehran said it struck the bases of another group within Pakistani territory.

 "Iranian forces have successfully launched a new air defense method that uses drones to intercept and target hostile targets," state-run Press TV quoted an Iranian army spokesman as saying.

The two-day drills, which began on Thursday, cover an area from Abadan in southwestern Khuzestan province to Chahbahar in southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Press TV said the army’s air force and navy, the aerospace force and the navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) participated in the exercises.



Reuters