Statement by Defense and Strategic Studies Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran about the mullahs’ regime’s propaganda efforts by organizing military maneuvers to threaten and deceive the international community:
In the run-up to the decision by the international community on how to tackle the criminal efforts of the mullahs’ regime to obtain nuclear weapons, the regime launched, beginning from August 19, a series of ridiculous war games serving as propaganda called “Blow of Zolqadr Drills” on its frontiers with Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan. These drills continued until September 8. By launching these maneuvers, the regime was attempting to prevent a firm international decision against it obtaining nuclear weapons through propaganda blackmail, threats and deception.
According to the deputy commander of the mullahs’ ground forces Brig. Gen. Hosseini, in these maneuvers the regime’s military “changed face and transformed into a flexible army to carry out irregular operations.” It is clear that because of personnel and technological incapability in a classic war, the sole objective of such flexibilities and “face-changing” is to carry out a delaying and defensive operation.
The following points should be taken into account in regards to the maneuvers under question:
1 – Contrary to the regime’s propaganda that the maneuvers involved 12 military divisions, a handful of units took part in the drills from each division, the total of which lacked enough forces for a company or even a battalion. The regime’s inability to gather and deploy its claim forces was evident in images broadcast on state television.
2 – The armaments used were mostly old military hardware belonging to the army such as T-55 Tanks, mini-Katyusha guns and 130 and 155mm mortars which were used in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and had since been “renovated” by the regime’s defense industries.
3 – The 106mm guns (canons) that were ridiculously introduced in the war games as coast-to-sea missiles were the same weapons that entered Iran’s army combat organization in the 1950s and 60s.
4 – Contrary to all the propaganda claims that new weapons were deployed (used), no new weapon was witnessed (put on display) in these exercises.
5 – The claim that a “Sagheb surface-to-surface missile” was used was simply a propaganda gesture since the clip that was aired of it being fired as a new missile was in a blatant forgery identical to the clip of the December 2005 maneuvers called “Peyravan Velayat” (Followers of the Jurisprudent) in which the same missile was introduced as “Kerm Abrisham missile.”
6 – Much of the images and television clips of the war games were repeats and hastily put together from maneuvers in previous years to show the regime’s preparedness “against any form of foreign attack.”
7 – Foreign observers and press ridiculed the crash of an instructor aircraft in Tehran on August 20 which occurred while the drills were ongoing and blamed it on wear and tear of the regime’s military equipment. For this reason, the regime’s military leaders have rigorously denied any relation between this plane’s crash and the war games.
8 – Despite announcing that it would hold nationwide air exercises as part of the same war games, the regime only deployed several fighter jets on September 5 from Tehran to the city of Tabriz.
9 – Contrary to the original claims, no large-scale transfer of forces took place and each unit only operated within its own defensive domain its own province.
10 – The masquerade was disgraceful to the extent that despite originally announcing that the drills were part of a lengthy operation and thus their end date unknown, in practice they terminated it within three weeks while only 10 days of actual operations took place.
Defense and Strategic Studies Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 14, 2006
