Iran holding war games as it faces Israel tensions, Trump’s return

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran was holding air defence exercises on Saturday, state media reported, as the country braces for more friction with arch-enemy Israel and the United States under incoming U.S. president Donald Trump.

The war games take place as Iranian leaders face the risk that Trump could empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Iran’s nuclear sites, while further tightening U.S. sanctions on its oil industry through his “maximum pressure” policy. 

“In these exercises,…defence systems will practice the fight against air, missile and electronic warfare threats in real battlefield conditions… to protect the country’s skies and sensitive and vital areas,” Iranian state television said.

Saturday’s drills are part of two-months-long exercises launched on Jan. 4 which have already included war games in which the elite Revolutionary Guards defended key nuclear installations in Natanz against mock attacks by missiles and drones, state media said.

Iran’s military has said it was using new drones and missiles in the exercises and released footage of a new underground “missile city” being visited by Guards Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami.

Iran has recently suffered setbacks in Lebanon after Israeli attacks against Iranian-backed Hezbollah and the toppling of Tehran’s ally President Bashar Al-Assad in Syria last month.

But Salami warned, in a speech carried by state TV about a “false sense of delight” among Iran’s enemies, saying Iran and particularly its missile forces were stronger than ever.

While Iranian officials have downplayed Iran’s setbacks, an Iranian general, Behrouz Esbati, who was reportedly based in Syria, said in a speech circulated on social media that Iran had “badly lost” in Syria. Reuters could not verify the recording.

Trump in 2018 withdrew from a deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 in which Iran agreed to curb uranium enrichment, which can yield material for nuclear weapons, in return for the relaxation of U.S. and U.N. economic sanctions.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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