"Today we can announce that all the vessels of the Army have been equipped with missiles built inside the country," Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Ataollah Salehi told reporters at the end of 8 days of naval drills in Iran's southern waters, codenamed Vellayat 89.
Salehi also stressed that the Army is very well able to safeguard Iran's interests in high seas and waters beyond the Persian Gulf, such as the Oman Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The Iranian Army started six-staged wargames in the country's southern waters in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf last Wednesday.
The Army test-fired different types of newly-developed missiles and torpedoes and tested a large number of home-made weapons, tools and equipments, including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircraft, UAVs and air defense and electronic systems in the massive military drills.
The Iranian Navy's heavy submarines on Monday successfully test-fired home-made torpedoes at subsurface targets on the sixth day of a series of naval wargames in the Strait of Hormuz and northern Indian Ocean.
The Navy also used Iran's first home-made destroyer, Jamaran, and other newly-developed military tools and equipments in the wargames a bid to test its achievements.
Iran has been pushing an arms development program in recent years in a bid to reach self-sufficiency. Tehran launched its arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran, to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own jet fighters and armored vehicles as well as radar-avoiding missiles and other high-tech weapons.
Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.
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