In Pictures: Iranian war games in the Gulf

Foes trade barbs in escalating spat in Strait of Hormuz between the US and the Islamic Republic. Al Jazeera staff Last Modified: 30 Dec 2011 10:27

Iran's Navy Commander Habibullah Sayari holds a news conference in Tehran before the start of a 10-day war game in the Strait of Hormuz [Reuters] Sayari points at a map of the region where Iranian submarines, surface-to-sea missile systems, missile-launching vessels, torpedoes and drones will be tested [Reuters] Military personnel place a flag on a submarine during the Velayat-90 war games in the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway through which one-third of the world's oil flows [Reuters] Iranian navy members take positions during a drill, as the row escalated over the potential consequences of sanctions imposed on Iran's crude exports over its nuclear ambitions. Iran's navy chief warned that his country could easily close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf [AP] An Iranian Army soldier stands guard on a military speed boat, passing by a submarine. Iran can disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz but probably cannot completely shut down the world's most important oil route, many military analysts say [AFP] Trying to close the strait would likely bring down a powerful military response on Iran from US forces in the Gulf [AFP] State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Thursday that Iran had exhibited "irrational behaviour" by threatening to close the strait [Reuters] Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, told the Fars news agency  that "our response to threats is threats" [Reuters] A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said that the US was not in a position to tell Tehran "what to do in the Strait of Hormuz", Iranian state television reported. The US Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet is active in the area, as are warships of several other countries that patrol for pirates there [AFP] Naval Commander Sayari said the US aircraft carrier was monitored by Iranian forces as it passed from the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman, state television reported, while broadcasting footage of an aircraft carrier being shadowed by an Iranian plane [Reuters] The USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier is seen as it allegedly went "inside the manoeuvre zone" where Iranian ships are conducting war games in the Gulf. A showdown between Iran and the US worsened with warships from each side giving weight to an increasingly bellicose exchange of words [AFP] "Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is really easy ... or as Iranians say it will be easier than drinking a glass of water," Iran's navy chief Habibollah Shttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2011/12/2011123085134943200.htmlayyari told Iran's English language Press TV [Reuters]