Iranian Army Air Defence Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard said wide scale air drills, simulating a potential aerial invasion are being held across an area roughly the same size as California in the northern province of Semnan. He told Newsweek his forces “will practice the toughest and most realistic combat conditions,” simulating a conflict in the Persian Gulf. He also said the war games would take place especially in the highly volatile Strait of Hormuz.
The route is an oil chokepoint and the location that the British-flagged Stena Impero was captured in the summer.
He added: “I advise enemies not to put us to the test, because conducting such a test and entering the sky of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as shown in the past, will lead to no achievements for them, except humiliation.”
He also added that his forces would employ “world-class” and “cutting-edge” systems.
He said: “If the enemy intends to invade, attack or even infringe on our country’s skyline, which is one of our red lines we can deal with it.”
The display is happening as this week US troops on board the USS Abraham Lincoln sailed through the Strait after US President Trump sent a 3,000-strong force to Saudi Arabia.
The manoeuvres and the US Navy have coincided previously during drills last December.
The comments from Iran come after Tehran boasted it had claimed victory over “enemies” on Thursday amid widespread protests.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said: “The Iranian nation achieved another victory in the recent historic test.
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Human Rights Watch’s Michael Page said: “By severing Iranians from global internet connectivity, the authorities are hoping to hide their bloody crackdown on their own people from the rest of the world.”
Immediately after protests began, images posted on social media showed protestors storming banks, petrol station and government buildings and setting them ablaze.
Within a few hours, however, there were reports of “major drops” in connectivity in Tehran and other cities.
According to CNN, the scale and technical complexity of this blackout is different and more advanced than previous attempts by the government.
Social media posts have dramatically dropped since the blackout took full effect.
The blackout makes it incredibly difficult to know what civilians are presently facing, said David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression.
He told CNN: “Fundamentally, I don’t think we have a very good sense of what’s happening on the ground in Iran right now.
“The reporting has been spotty at best. We’re starting to hear about the protests and the use of force against the protesters.”