Iran holds defense drills against 'hostile' strikes

An Iranian armed force held civil defense drills on Sunday to prepare for any hostile air strikes after Saturday's reports that the United States would activate an anti-missile radar system in Israel by mid-December.

The exercises organized by student members of the Basij forces were held at hundreds of schools across the country and involved transporting wounded people and putting out fires after a fictitious bombardment by enemy planes.

State television showed pictures of ambulances with sirens wailing rushing to the scene of a simulated attack and people lying on the ground with bloodied faces.

Officials also reiterated that Iran was ready to close down the Strait of Hormuz, a sea route at the mouth of the Gulf through which 40 percent of the world's traded oil passes, if the United States attacked.

Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari said foreign forces in the region were being closely watched and Iran would not allow any foreign ship to enter its waters.

"We are capable of closing the Strait of Hormuz," he told told IRNA news agency.

Rasoul Sanairad, a senior Basij political officer, said the strait provided "an exceptional opportunity" for defending the nation, according to Fars News Agency.

Iran's navy will hold exercises in December involving missile-equipped battleships and scuba-diving special forces, state radio said.

The United States and Israel have hinted they could take military action if Iran presses ahead with a nuclear program they believe is aimed at making atomic bombs, but Iran says is for peaceful purposes.

The Basijis are a paramilitary force estimated to have 12 million members who uphold Islamic revolutionary values. In the 1980s war with Iraq, they provided much of the manpower for the front. In peacetime, they help enforce Iran's strict Islamic dress and other moral codes.

Radar system

Israeli army radio reported on Saturday a radar system, which the United States agreed in July to deploy in Israel to counter a perceived missile threat from Iran, is to go operational in mid-December.

The U.S. military technicians who will operate the system are currently carrying out the final tests, the radio said.

The radar system, which has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), has been installed in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

Some 120 U.S. troops have been deployed to Israel to set up and operate the system, public radio reported in late September.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed to the deployment after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and army chief Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi made separate visits to Washington in July to discuss the perceived Iranian threat.

The so-called X-band radar system is a powerful phased array radar that can target the warhead of a long- or medium-range missile in space. The United States has deployed one in Japan and plans to install a larger X-band radar in the Czech Republic.