Iran announced on Thursday that it had completed a successful test of domestically made missiles in a military exercise in the Indian Ocean.
The exercise, named “Ramadan Martyrs,” was held to test new short- and long-range cruise missiles, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported.
The missiles hit their targets at a distance of 280 kilometers (174 miles), according to the report.
The report comes on the heels of a statement on Tuesday by U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook that Washington is seeking to extend the arms embargo on Tehran indefinitely. The arms embargo, set to expire in October, was established in the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers in 2015.
Also on Tuesday, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, was quoted by a member of the Iranian Parliament as having said in a closed-door meeting that the United States tried to bribe and then threatened the crews of five oil tankers transporting fuel to Venezuela, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.
According to a report by a news agency affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran’s naval forces were preparing to attack American commercial vessels in the Gulf last month, in the event that U.S. forces intercepted Iranian oil tankers heading to Venezuela.
