Iran is holding a military drill in the north of the country with the region bracing for its avowed retaliation against Israel over the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, according to the Mehr news agency.

Reuters reports the drill was taking place in the evening from 7:30pm to 8:30pm local time (1600 to 1700 GMT) in Iran’s Gilan province on the Caspian Sea.

It was designed to boost the defensive readiness of the army’s naval forces, Mehr cited a local official as saying.

It is Iran’s second reported military drill in three days.