Reza Akbari-Pooya, Strategic military management expert
The Iranian Army began large-scale three-day joint drills, codenamed Zolfaqar 1401, to confront regional and trans-regional threats, in a region stretching from east of the southern port city of Jask to Larak Island and the southern Makran coast.
Different army units, including the ground force, airborne, air defense and naval units have taken part in the exercises, using the country’s latest defense sector achievements.
The maneuvers are aimed at ensuring security in the region and demonstrating the country’s goodwill and capabilities in providing joint support for global peace and maritime security, as well as creating a maritime association in the region with a future free from trans-regional powers’ presence.
The question is, what message are the drills intended to carry?
The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters is in charge of supervising the exercises, another objective of which is preparing the ground for expanding multilateral cooperation among regional countries aimed at providing joint support for global peace, as well as ensuring maritime security for Iran and the region.
Political and military experts maintain that in addition to its military aspects, the drills carry important messages in terms of establishing peace, guaranteeing security, ensuring greater coordination, and practicing joint scenarios among the main four army units.
The Zolfaqar 1401 drill is a model of quadruple cooperation that can continue in the mid- and long-term to eventually turn into a model for institutional collaborations within the country’s army and, later, Armed Forces – a model that is in line with efforts to implement the policies set by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Especially, in a region home to conflicts among all world powers seeking to eliminate others, the exercises can carry the message of ensuring mutual respect for and safeguarding the interests of Muslim states with its motto of “Together for peace and security”.
The Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman littoral states can pursue collective efforts to ensure Islamic peace and security, adopting a foreign policy independent from U.S. hegemony.
In addition, the timing of the drills has coincided with a period when internal and regional enemies, led by the United States, Israel and some of their Arab allies, have sought to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran through organizing riots and waging hybrid warfare against the country since September.
The riots were coupled with an intensification of economic sanctions on Iran and an increase in military threats, especially sea-based ones, against the country in a bid to cast doubt over the Iranian government’s authority and ability to play a significant role with regard to exercising its national sovereignty and regional developments. The drills are capable of dashing the enemies’ pipedreams.
With an area of 1,648,195 square kilometers, Iran has a special geopolitical position in terms of access to the high seas as well as strategic passages. Iran is also home to two of the world’s 24 primary strategic points, including the three Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, and the Strait of Hormuz.
In addition to its geopolitical position and geographical power, Iran has managed to gain political dependence following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, challenging the global hegemony led by the United States. Today, the Islamic Iran has managed to continue its political life as a “stable island” in the world’s most crisis-hit region over the past 43 years, on the back of experiences gained during the eight-year Iraqi-imposed war (1980-88), people’s active resistance, development of unique domestic defense power, the Armed Forces’ exceptional commitment to their religious beliefs, and the promotion of the culture of martyrdom.
Through staging the drills, the Islamic Republic seeks to create an accurate relationship between geography and politics, increase its geopolitical significance and influence, and demonstrate power in the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, using its unique geographical position.
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