Iranian Revolutionary Guards Stage War Games
Iran's navy engaged in war games Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz.
State television aired footage of missiles targeting a mock U.S. carrier craft, built to scale, with ballistic and cruise missiles fired from shore.
The footage shows gunboats surrounding the "warship" and firing on it, Iran's semi-official FARS news agency reported.
According to the report, the Guards chief commander said the drills "send a message of Iran's might to extraterritorial powers," a veiled reference to the United States.
"If the Americans are ready to be buried at the bottom of the waters of the Persian Gulf -- so be it," a banner quoting Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Ayatollah Khomeini reads.
U.S. Navy officials say they're monitoring the military drills and are not concerned about them.
Meanwhile, a former U.S. ambassador continues to warn about the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six world powers.
Former Ambassador John Bolton said the Islamic Republic cannot be trusted.
"We've conceded they have a right to a peaceful nuclear program despite the fact that for close to 30 years now they've already violated their solemn obligation under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty not to seek nuclear weapons," Bolton said. "So since they've already violated the word they gave decades [ago] again, what possible reason is there to think they'll keep their word now?"
The six world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany, known as the P5+1 -- set March 24 as the latest deadline to reach an agreement.
The negotiations are being closely monitored by Israel, which considers Iran's nuclear program an existential threat to its state, the region, and the world.
On March 3, despite opposition by the Obama administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress on the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran.
