Iran holds naval exercise near Hormuz

TEHRAN: The Iranian navy began a three-day exercise in the Sea of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, deploying an array of warships, drones and missiles.

One of the exercise’s objectives is to devise "tactical offensive and defensive strategies for safeguarding the country’s territorial waters and shipping lanes," the military said on its website. Dubbed "Zolfaghar 99", the exercise will be held over two million square kilometres (772,000 square miles) of sea stretching from the northern part of the Indian Ocean to the eastern end of the Strait of Hormuz, the sensitive shipping lane from the Gulf through which a fifth of world oil output passes.