Iranian state TV said the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) would begin large scale military maneuvers in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a move likely to heighten tension at a time when the West is at a deepening standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.
The TV report yesterday quoted IRGC deputy chief Hossein Salami as saying the war games in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz were designed to “safeguard security” in the region.
Salami said the three-day war games, expected to begin today, would also seek to demonstrate Iran’s role in a waterway through which some 40 percent of the world oil and energy supply passes.
Iran had in the past threatened to close the strait if attacked.
Meanwhile, Iran’s atomic chief said yesterday the sites for building new uranium enrichment plants had yet to be finalized, denying reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has already approved the locations.
“The designs for the first new nuclear [enrichment] site will be done this year,” Ali Akbar Salehi told ILNA news agency.
“The location of this nuclear site has not yet been finalized. After the president’s approval, a decision will be made in this regard,” he said.
On Monday, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a senior adviser to Ahmadinejad, said the president had “approved the locations of the new nuclear sites” and the “construction at these sites will start with his order.”
However, Hashemi also said the designs of the new plants were under study.
In November, a defiant Ahmadinejad announced Iran would build 10 new uranium enrichment plants after Tehran was censured by the UN nuclear watchdog for having built a second such facility near the Shiite shrine city of Qom.
Salehi said this month that plans for two new enrichment plants had been submitted to Ahmadinejad and their construction would start in the first half of the Iranian year, which runs to March next year.
Iran enriches uranium at the central city of Natanz. The UN nuclear watchdog’s February report saif it has installed 8,610 centrifuges at the plant.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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