MNA – Dubbed as ‘Zolfaghar 99’, the military exercise will kick off on Thursday near the southern coasts of the country, said Deputy Coordinator of Iran's Army Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari.

Speaking in a presser on Wednesday, Sayyari said that the main stages of the drill will be held with units of Navy, Air Defense, Air Force, and Ground Force in an area of 2 million square kilometers near east of Hormuz Strait, Makran coasts, Sea of Oman, and north of Indian Ocean.

With the motto of “sustainable security under defensive authority”, the war game will be launched in three different stages of ‘intelligence superiority’, ‘tactics’, and ‘display of power’, added the commander of the military exercise.

Different Army’s military equipment will be used during the event, including the powerful homegrown Fateh submarine, Sayyari said

The exercise will display part of Islamic Republic of Iran Army’s readiness and authority for a real confrontation, he added. “Among the aims of the war game are boosting the readiness and military capability in naval, aerial, ground, and air defense fields in a joint exercise, and confronting transregional threats by practicing operational plans and making sure of their sufficiency in any crushing confrontation against any probable aggression.”

“The enemies of the Islamic Republic should know that in case they commit any strategic mistake, the geography of battle and the stage of Iran’s response to their measures will not be limited to the West Asian region and they will face a vast field of battle.”

Among other exercises planned for the war game are heliborne and attacking marine-ground operations to take control of desired coasts, said the top military commander.

Elsewhere, he said that providing the region and international waters with security and controlling this security are among the aims of this war game. “The security of the West Asia and its strategic waters depends on the localization of the security and constructive cooperation between all regional countries and not allowing transregional forces’ being present in the regional waters; in the past four decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has pursued this purpose by relying on internal capabilities and using young and committed forces.”

“The enemies of the Islamic Republic should know that in case they commit any strategic mistake, the geography of battle and the stage of Iran’s response to their measures will not be limited to the West Asian region and they will face a vast field of battle.”