Politics

On Monday, February 16, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps started military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, according to state media. This comes just before talks with the United States. The exercises, which did not have a specified length, are meant to prepare the Guards for “possible security and military threats” in the strait, as reported by state TV. This follows the deployment of a large US naval force in the area. Hardline politicians in Iran have often threatened to close the strait, an important waterway that carries about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. The drills, led by General Mohammad Pakpour, the chief of the Guards, are designed to enhance the IRGC’s quick response capabilities, according to Iranian media. The Guards represent the ideological side of Iran’s military. These exercises occur as Tehran and Washington gear up for new talks in Geneva on Tuesday, which are being facilitated by Oman. The two nations, rivals for the past 40 years, restarted discussions on February 6 in Oman, their first since diplomacy collapsed last June during the Iran-Israel conflict, which involved strikes by Israel and the United States on Iranian nuclear sites. US President Donald Trump, who is urging Iran to reach an agreement, has sent a significant naval force to the region, which he has called an “armada.” After dispatching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying battleships to the Gulf in January, Trump announced on Friday that another aircraft carrier, the Gerald R Ford, would be leaving for the Middle East “very soon.”