Tehran: Amid rising tensions with Israel and with less than two weeks left before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, Iran’s military has begun testing its air defences near the important Natanz nuclear facility.
The first phase of a manoeuvre around the site in the centre of the country began on Tuesday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported. Air defence units were also being prepared for attack conditions such as electronic warfare, it said.
After repeated threats by Israel’s government to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities thought to be developing nuclear weapons, anxiety is growing in the country about a possible war.
Conservative hardliners in Iran are fuelling the concerns by calling for nuclear weapons tests as a military deterrent.
Experts suspect that Israel is waiting for Trump’s support for a complex airstrike on Iran’s nuclear industry.
In addition to political considerations, Israel’s military is also dependent on special bunker-busting US bombs - for example for a potential strike on Iran’s underground Fordo enrichment complex. (DPA)
