MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) - Iran has developed a unique minesweeping system, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Wednesday, Press TV reported.
With the new system in place, special helicopter units can go into action to defuse and clear sea mines, he said during an ongoing minesweeping drill in the country’s southern waters where the new system was launched.
The Iranian Navy fully monitors the movements of all foreign forces in the region and is ready to counter any threats against the country, he added.
Sayyari announced the upcoming launch of the system on Saturday, shortly after the United States announced plans to conduct allied mine sweeping exercises in the region.
"As Americans have declared, they plan to carry out joint mine sweeping drills with some 30 countries,” he was quoted by the Fars new agency as saying, adding that those measures were part of their “Iranophobia.”
Last month, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said Tehran is ready to share its mine-sweeping expertise with other countries in conducting mine-sweeping operations following “the excessive use of mines and cluster bombs by Saddam’s military forces” during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
