Military stages chemical attack drill

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran’s military on Monday conducted a drill aimed at dealing with possible chemical attacks and also tested home-built radars, on the second day of a series of manoeuvres, ISNA news agency reported.
During the exercise, forces demonstrated how to clean areas affected by chemical attacks and how to respond to a possible aerial attack in the event that radar systems are down, the report said.
Iran’s military has alleged that Saddam’s forces attacked several areas of the country with poisonous gases during the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s.
Brigadier General Ali Moghiseh, spokesman for the exercise, said participants in the drill tested home-built radars of different calibres.
The war games were part of five days of manoeuvres which Iran began on Sunday aimed at preparing responses to aerial threats against the country’s nuclear facilities-from reconnaissance to actual assault. A commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards boasted on Sunday that Iranian air defence forces would “annihilate” Israeli warplanes if they attacked the Islamic republic.
Iran has repeatedly held war games and boasted advances in its military capabilities in a bid to show its readiness to thwart any threats to its controversial nuclear programme.