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Iran begins major military exercise

Atul Aneja

Larijani to meet IAEA chief today

— PHOTO: AFP

A missile test by the elite Revolutionary Guards at an unidentified location in Iran.

DUBAI: Iran has begun a major military exercise involving nearly 60,000 troops. These manoeuvres are being conducted in 16 out of Iran's 30 provinces.

Officials said several missiles would be tested during this exercise. According to an IRNA report, 750 missiles and canon munitions would be fired during the exercise. These weapons would have range form less than 70 km to 400 km.

Slated for testing

The missiles that are slated for testing include Zelzal (100 to 400 km range), Fajr 5 (70 km) and Fajr 3, which has a shorter range.

Iran has claimed earlier this month that it had test-fired an anti-ship cruise missile from land. The launch took place at a time when American warships have been assembling in the Gulf. The three-day manoeuvres have begun on the eve of a meeting on Tuesday between head of Iran's national security council Ali Larijani and head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei. Iran is facing a Friday deadline to halt all sensitive nuclear activities. The Security Council is meeting on February 23 to consider Mr. ElBaradei report on whether Iran has complied with the Security Council's demand for halting uranium enrichment.

Iran has said it is ready to confine uranium enrichment to 4 per cent — a level that cannot have military applications. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday Mr. Larijani had briefed European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on this proposal in Munich recently.

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