Iranian state television announced on Thursday that the Islamic republic began an impressive 10-day series of military maneuvers, which include missile test-fires and drills in the Gulf and Sea of Oman, in order to display the military might of the state, especially its "defensive strength", Reuters informs.

"Dozens of missiles were fired including Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles. The missiles had ranges from 300 km (190 miles) up to 2,000 km (1,240 miles)", the Iranian TV station reported, attaching footage of six missiles being fired from mobile launchers. Their launching was accompanied by statements of praise to the divinity, such as "God is the Greatest", by the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Yahya Rahim Safavi. Prior to these war games, the commander highlighted that the series of military exercises would be called "The Greatest Prophet" and would include testing of ground, air and naval-related equipment.

"We want to show our deterrent and defensive power to trans-regional enemies, and we hope they will understand the message of the maneuvers. The first and main goal is to demonstrate the power and national determination to defend the country against possible threat", Safavi commented upon the objective of these practices.

According to a reporter from the Al-Alam TV station, during an interview by telephone with Reuters, the Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles had cluster warheads attached to them before being launched, a fact which was later confirmed by one of the Iranian TV anchors: "Iranian experts have made some changes to Shahab missiles installing cluster warheads in them with the capacity to carry 1,400 bombs", he said.

Military specialists highlighted that, as opposed to the Shahab-2 missiles, which have a 700 kilometer range, the Shahab-3 missiles possess a range of approximately 2,000 kilometers, which in turn would mean that if Iran intended to bomb Israel or United States military targets in the Gulf, it would succeed in doing so.

This comes only a few days after United States conducted a series of military exercises that were related to blocking the shipments of WMDs in the Gulf.