(Land) Iran: Zulfiqar (MBT)

[Rehad]

In early September 1998, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) began the Ashura-3 exercises along the eastern border with 70,000 troops. When the exercises concluded, these troops stayed behind. With the arrival of other troops for new exercises (Zulfaqar-2), Iranian sources suggested that there were approximately 270,000 Iranian soldiers near the border, although US Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs Karl Inderfurth told Congress that "the number of Iranian soldiers appears to be far less than that." Meanwhile, Iranian naval forces increased their activities in the Persian Gulf and in a cluster of small lakes, known collectively as Lake Hamun, that lie between Afghanistan and Iran's Sistan va Baluchistan Province.

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