The Iranian Army will start large-scale military exercises in an area stretching from the eastern sector of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to the northern tip of the Indian Ocean, Deputy Chief of the Iranian Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Sayyari added that the joint drills — codenamed Zolfaqar 1401 — will begin later tonight with the key motto of “self-confidence, power, sustainable security” to promote the combat capability of the Armed Forces.
He added that the infantry and armored units as well as mechanized regiments of the Army’s Ground Force, air defense systems, subsurface, surface and flying vessels and rangers of the Navy will participate. Strategic bombers of the Air Force will also provide logistical support.
The maneuvers are aimed at improving planning skills, conducting, directing and evaluating joint operations and synergizing the defense power of the Army’s four main divisions.
Sayyari said the drills also focus on enhancing the skills of the Army’s commanders and personnel in using the combat units and the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base, drones, electronic and cyber warfare systems.
The commander said the participants will also practice conducting operations in special environments, including those contaminated with biological, chemical and nuclear agents, electronic warfare, and adverse weather conditions.
Sayyari stressed the importance of establishing security in West Asia by relying on the capabilities of the regional countries and their unity.
The massive drills, he said, will remind the regional states of the existing capacities and the fact that they do not need any foreign powers to ensure security in the region.
The presence of extra-regional countries and warmongers has always brought nothing to the West Asia region but insecurity, war and occupation, Sayyari emphasized.
He said the extra-regional countries, particularly the US and Britain, must exit the region so that regional countries can establish stability and peace in their neighborhood.
The Zolfaqar 1401 joint exercise aims to show that the arms embargoes against Iran are ineffective as the country possesses domestically-manufactured equipment.
China has suspended several 2025 export controls on strategic materials — including rare earths, superhard materials, and lithium batteries – for a year. Is this a concession to the US, or a move in a far more complex game?
"The first aim of China’s export controls was to consolidate its leverage in negotiations. The second was to establish a long-term framework for managing such controls," says Yana Leksyutina, deputy director at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Сhina could activate this mechanism at any moment, and now everyone knows it’s a lever it holds, she explains to Sputnik.
Balancing the Mineral Market
"The moratorium on export bans to the US essentially resets the rare earth market to where it was previously," Jeff J. Brown, author of 'The China Trilogy' and founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation, tells Sputnik.
In the meantime, there will be a global rush by the US and its NATO allies to acquire as many rare earth ...
The Israeli regime has reportedly signed contracts worth millions of dollars in recent months to sway American public opinion as part of attempts to launder the occupying entity’s genocidal war crimes against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that the multimillion-dollar campaign aimed to reshape US public opinion, both online and offline, through coordinated influence operations combining digital marketing, AI, geotagging, and religious messaging.
The contracts, signed between the Israeli regime and firms linked to US President Donald Trump, reveal a “hasbara [propaganda] campaign” and schemes to target millions of US churchgoers, deploy bots, hire influencers, and try to make ChatGPT more pro-Israel.
The largest contract, worth $6 million, was signed with Clock Tower X, owned by Trump’s former digital campaign chief Brad Parscale, to produce and distribute roughly 100 core pieces of pro-Israel content per month and thousands......
