By JERUSALEM POST STAFFIran's armed forces began their biggest ever military maneuvers Friday to demonstrate "national solidarity," state-run television reported.
The maneuvers in the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean are the same that a plane that crashed in Tehran on Tuesday - killing 94 crew and passengers - was heading to. They also come amid concerns over Iran's nuclear program and its hard-line policy toward Israel.
The exercises cover an area of 33,000 nautical miles (49,500 miles) from the strategic Strait of Hormouz in the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Gowater on Iran's territorial waters close to Pakistan and involve submarines, warships, missiles, jet fighters and helicopter gunships.