Iran fires several cruise missiles, Saudi denounces “interventions” in Mideast

Agencies | Moscow

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

In a highly provocative move, Iran yesterday fired several cruise missiles in the Gulf of Oman, amid heightened tensions with the US. 

Various kinds of surface-to-surface cruise missiles were fired by Iran as part of a naval drill in the gulf and northern part of the Indian Ocean.  

Later in a statement packed with threats, Adm. Hamzeh Ali Kaviani, spokesman for the exercise, said, “Enemies should know that any violation and invasion of Iranian marine borders will be targeted by the cruise missiles from both coast and sea.”

Images released by the navy showed the missiles being launched and hitting their targets.

The two-day drill began Wednesday when the country’s navy inaugurated its largest military vessel.

In recent weeks, Iran has increased its military drills.

On Saturday, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard held a naval parade in the Arabian Gulf and a week earlier held a massive drone manoeuvre across half the country.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan denounced Iran’s “interventions” in the Middle East region, after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Moscow with Lavrov, broadcast on Saudi TV, the Saudi minister said Tehran’s proxy militias were obstructing a solution for the war in Syria.

He also accused the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen of obstructing peace efforts in that country.

President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile programmes among other issues in withdrawing.

Denies deaths

Meanwhile, in another statement, An Iranian Revolutionary Guards official denied Thursday that recent Israeli strikes on eastern Syria led to any deaths, the Fars news agency reported.

“This attack caused no human losses,” Ahad Karimkhani, deputy political head of the Guards’ foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, was quoted as saying.

 The overnight raids targeted arms depots and military positions and were the deadliest such strikes since the start of the Syrian conflict.