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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 11704880" data-attributes="member: 92282"><img src="http://images.defensetech.org/wp-content/uploads//2010/04/Iranian-Fast-Attack-Missile-Boats.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Iran began 10 days of wargames around the Strait of Hormuz, a vital  route in the Gulf through which more than a third of the world's  ship-borne oil passes.The Velayat-90 military exercises,  announced Thursday by navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari, kicked off  on Saturday as planned, Iran's Arabic-language broadcaster Al-Alam  reported.Iranian navy forces were being deployed throughout the  wargame area to the east of the Strait of Hormuz, comprising the Gulf of  Oman around to the Gulf of Aden, in the first phase of the exercises,  Al-Alam said, citing navy command.The exercises were taking place  at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West, with  sanctions being ramped up over Tehran's nuclear programme.The United States, which maintains its own navy presence in the Gulf, has noted Iran's drill.Tehran  in September rejected a Washington call for a military hotline between  the capitals to defuse any "miscalculations" that could occur in the  Gulf.The wargames were ordered as the United States and its  allies ratchet up economic sanctions on Iran, targeting its oil and  financial sectors. More measures were expected to be imposed in coming  weeks.The sanctions have helped fuel a depreciation of Iran's currency, the rial.A  rumour that spread last Tuesday from an Iranian lawmaker's comments  that Tehran was to block the Strait of Hormuz in the drill sent the rial  to a new low and oil prices soaring before it was denied by the  government.But while the foreign ministry said last week such  drastic action was "not on the agenda," it reiterated Iran's threat of  "reactions" if the current tensions with the West spilled over into open  confrontation.Most Western countries believe Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, despite Tehran's denials.Iran-US  tensions have also worsened over US accusations of a thwarted Iranian  plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Iran's capture this  month of a CIA drone, and Tehran's arrest and detention of an  American-Iranian it alleges is a CIA spy.<img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/img/afp_logo.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

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