An Iranian deputy navy chief said on Friday that the Iranian army launched three new missiles earlier during their ongoing military maneuver was a strong message for the United States to cease its military drills in the Gulf region, the state radio reported.

 

"I think the enemies of the Islamic Republic should stop their hostility in the Persian Gulf, and they should not make any move that could intensify the tensions in the region," Admiral. Sardar Fadavi, the deputy navy chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, told the radio.

 

The chief made the remarks when he was answering a question from the radio on whether Iran's new drill was a strong response to the previous US-led military maneuvers in the same regional, therefore he referred to the United States clearly.

 

On October 29, the US-led naval forces staged a two-day maneuver in the Gulf waters, claiming that it aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weaponry material and arms proliferation.

 

Some hours earlier before Fadavi's comments, Iran's Revolutionary Guards successfully fired three new models of missiles in the ongoing military exercises in the Gulf region.

 

The local television footage showed the missiles were fired from mobile launching carriers on the shore and from warships, and hit the targets successfully.

 

On Thursday, Iran also tested its ballistic Shahab-3 missiles for the first time in the military maneuvers. The medium-range missiles could reach a range of more than 2,000 km, and can cover Israel and the US military bases in the Mideast.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2006)