U.S. seeks to hide weaknesses through exercises in Mideast: Iranian MP

TEHRAN,Sept.10(MNA) – Iranian MP Mohammad Reza Mohseni-Thani said the decision by the U.S. to hold minesweeping exercises in the Middle East waterways are intended to conceal Washington’s weaknesses. “The Americans are seeking to hide their weaknesses and inaction through holding maneuvers in the Middle East, and to this end, they are imposing huge costs on the region,” Mohseni-Thani said on Sunday. The maritime exercise in the current month will include 20 of U.S. allies as well. The exercise will focus “on a hypothetical threat to mine the international strategic waterways of the Middle East, including the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf,” the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on July 17, according to Bloomberg. Mohseni-Thani, the chairman of the Majlis National Security Subcommittee, said the exercise is a politically motivated move meant to assure U.S. allies that the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz are under the control of their forces. He added, “Our combatants and forces have full control over the Persian Gulf region, and naturally, the maneuvers could not put obstacles in the way of (the realization of) the goals of the system.”