Iran to hold "massive" air defense drills
Iranian soldiers keep watch at a patrol post in Zabol, southeastern Iran, near the Afghan border, on October 10, 2012. / Getty
TEHRAN, Iran Iran's official news agency says the country's military will hold "massive" air defense maneuvers in the east, starting this weekend.
Gen. Farzad Esmaili, head of Iran's air defense headquarters, says the drill will include Iranian jet fighters, drones, air defense systems and about 8,000 troops.
- Netanyahu: Israel ready to strike Iran
- U.N. nuclear chief says Iran not cooperating with probe
- Israeli official: Iran pulled back from the brink
Esmaili is quoted by the official IRNA news agency on Thursday as saying that the area of the war games will cover nearly the entire eastern half of Iran. The exercise is to start on Saturday and last seven days.
The maneuvers come amid escalating tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran's suspect nuclear program, which the West fears is a cover for a pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying the program is for peaceful purposes only.
Popular on CBSNews.com
-
One year after Afghan massacre, villagers work with U.S. troops One year after U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians, the villagers in the town where the atrocity took place have joined the U.S. special forces stationed there to assist in the fight against the Taliban.
- 50th Paris Air Show 13 Photos
- Italy top court cites "erotic game" hypothesis in Knox case
- Torrential rain devastates Northern India 15 Photos
- Widespread protests in Brazil 23 Photos
- Hungary indicts 98-year-old for Nazi war crimes
- Egypt and Ethiopia try to roll back threats of war
- Basement living in China 6 Photos
- Protesters clash with Brazil police in Sao Paulo
Gen. Farzad Esmaili, head of Iran's air defense headquarters, says the drill will include Iranian jet fighters (fifty percent will be used for spare parts) , one dozen drones (GI Jo Tactical helicopters at Toys R Us renamed "Mother of all Big Breasts"), air defense systems (one thousand interceptor Canada Geese and fifty five "Give Peace a Chance" leaflets, that is until we have the nuclear bomb) and about 8,000 troops who will be dressed as clowns to repair the failing jet fighters, to pick up the Canada Geese's **** and to distribute the leaflets like confetti on the parade's thin line.