TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard staged a major military exercise across the country\u2019s south on Monday amid heightened tensions over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program, state TV reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Guard\u2019s aerospace division, ground troops and naval forces joined in the five-day drill, the report said, with maritime forces set to maneuver in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow gateway for 20% of the world\u2019s traded oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exercise comes days after talks to revive Tehran\u2019s tattered nuclear deal with world powers\u00a0broke up in Vienna. Iran has accelerated its nuclear advances as negotiations to return to the accord struggle to make headway, alarming Israel and other regional rivals. Israel has repeatedly threatened unilateral action against Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gen. Gholamali Rashid, a top Guard commander, vowed a harsh response to any Israeli military action against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iranian forces will launch \u201ca crushing attack on all bases, centers, paths and space used to carry out the aggression without delay,\u201d the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny threat to Iran\u2019s nuclear and military bases by the Zionist regime is not possible without the green light support of the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier on Monday, residents in Bushehr, some 700 kilometers (440 miles) south of Iran\u2019s capital, Tehran, reported seeing a light in the sky and hearing a loud explosion near the Bushehr nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the second time this month that sudden anti-aircraft firing erupted the middle of the night near an Iranian nuclear facility, which Iranian forces hours later described as drill for its surface-to-air missile defense system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary G […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1095,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions\/1095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}