SHOW OF FORCE TO SHOW OFF NEW WEAPONS
"NOT IMPRESSED" CLAIMS THE WEST
The Australian is reporting : "Iran has wrapped up a week of war games, which the regime used as much to rally local support as to send an intimidating message to detractors of its controversial nuclear ambitions.
"Trumpeting its 'homegrown' military achievements, the Islamic republic unveiled a wide range of weaponry such as multiple-head missiles, high-speed torpedoes and radar-evading anti-ship missiles in a week of military exercises in the strategic Gulf waters to the south.
"'Iranian missile invisible to radars: fresh nightmare for the United States, Western experts say,' ran a headline in the hardline daily Kayhan newspaper soon after Iran said it had successfully tested an underwater 'super-modern' missile.
"The war games, which began last Friday and ended on Thursday, were held in the Straits of Hormuz - the narrow neck in the Gulf through which a third of the world's oil exports passes.
"Most of the arms tested this week were anti-ship weapons, which could hit military vessels and oil tankers.
"Political analyst Saeed Laylaz said: 'If they sink a 500,000-tonne tanker in the region, they can cripple the traffic in the Persian Gulf'."
