February 20, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 2, 1428

TEHRAN, Feb 19: Iran’s ideological army, the elite Revolutionary Guards, launched three days of war games on Monday with a succession of missile tests aimed at improving defensive capabilities.

The “Power Manoeuvre” exercises involving 3,000 units of the elite force in 16 of Iran’s 30 provinces come at a time of mounting tension with the United States over Iran’s nuclear programme and allegations it is arming militias in Iraq.

“With the firing of short-, medium- and long-range missiles by the Revolutionary Guards, ‘Power Manoeuvre’ has started,” the state news agency IRNA reported.

It is the latest show of force by Iran’s elite military in the face of Washington’s increasingly tough rhetoric although US officials have been at pains to deny speculation of a planned military strike.

IRNA said a total of 750 missiles and canon munitions would be fired during the exercises, being staged less than two weeks after similar manoeuvres by the Guards’ air force and naval units.

Exercise spokesman General Nilforoushan told state television the war games were aimed at “upgrading the capabilities and readiness of defence of the military forces as well as the deployment of munitions and forces in the early hours of a war”.“We will also carry out offensive exercises with anti-helicopter and anti-aircraft weapons,” said the spokesman, whose first name was not given.

“Once, having military weapons with a range of up to 50 kilometres was our ideal. But the Guards now have access to rockets and missiles of a range of more than 200 kilometres,” said Nilforoushan.—AFP